


After The Fever

by Tkeyla



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-23
Updated: 2013-08-02
Packaged: 2017-12-15 20:33:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 39,488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/853778
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tkeyla/pseuds/Tkeyla
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>While investigating a drug cartel, Steve is injured and, being Steve, refuses to take adequate care of himself. Kono, Chin, and especially Danny, try to make sure he fully recovers but as their investigation becomes more complicated, so does caring for Steve. Once he begins to heal emotionally, with Danny's help, the physical healing becomes easier as well.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Dr. Yamamoto

“Do you prefer I address you as Commander? Or Steve?” Dr. Yamamoto asked.  
  
Steve was sitting in the chair next to the doctor, declining his invitation to sit on the more comfortable couch. Commander McGarrett was not the first SEAL Dr. Yamamoto had treated and knew to approach with caution. Letting the Commander make the first decisions should lead to a more open relationship.  
  
“I don’t know which is considered appropriate,” Steve admitted, looking him square in the eye. His resistance to talking with the doctor was in his rigid shoulders, his feet exactly hip width apart flat on the floor. His hands were supposedly folded casually in his lap but Dr. Yamamoto could see the white knuckles from their tight grip.  
  
“Either is appropriate. It’s whichever you prefer,” the doctor said. Steve shrugged stiffly, glancing out the window over Dr. Yamamoto’s shoulder.  
  
“Steve.”  
  
“Steve it is. You are welcome to call me Akako if you feel comfortable doing so,” the doctor invited.  
  
“ _Red_ ,” Steve said to the doctor’s nods.  
  
“Yes. It was sunset when I was born. My father looked out the window and the world was ablaze.”  
  
“Your parents hadn’t chosen a name?” Steve asked, tilting his head in consideration.  
  
“They had expected a girl,” Dr. Yamamoto laughed. “I have three sisters who arrived before me. It didn’t occur to my parents that I’d be anything but another daughter.”  
  
“Any younger sisters?” Steve asked.  
  
“I have a younger brother. It’s quite a celebration when we have the opportunity to all return to the home of our parents.”  
  
“I would imagine,” Steve agreed.  
  
The doctor nodded, waiting patiently. Even though Steve wasn’t in his office voluntarily, he would come around to understanding the reasons for the order. Dr. Yamamoto had enough experience to know the patterns, the mental process that each of his patients, especially the military ones, went through before they were able to open up to him.  
  
“Are you waiting for me?” Steve finally asked into the silence.  
  
“Unless you want to hear more about my family, I thought we could discuss the reasons you are here,” Dr. Yamamoto confirmed.  
  
“I was left no choice but to see you,” Steve said mechanically.  
  
“Yes,” the doctor agreed. “Tell me why you think Command resorted to that particular order.”  
  
Steve looked away from the doctor, training his stare to the window. He frankly resented being ordered to see a psychiatrist. The past month or so hadn’t been that bad. He’d had worse. Not since he went into the reserves but it wasn’t anything he couldn’t handle. He always had before. “It started when I was accidently knifed,” he found himself saying, the words leaving his mouth before he could control them.  
  
“That was six weeks ago?” the doctor asked.  
  
“Yes. It would have been a routine bust. We’d been tracking a major drug cartel for three weeks. We had all the warehouse exits covered. One of the messengers slipped through. I took off after him.”  
  
“Alone,” Dr. Yamamoto said, apparently looking for clarification. But Steve felt like it was a reprimand.  
  
“Yes, alone. Danny tells me all the time I need to wait for back-up.”  
  
“Danny’s your partner,” Dr. Yamamoto said in the same tone. “That’s Detective Williams.”  
  
“Yes. He was yelling at me as I took off after the suspect. I cut through the alley to intercept him. Danny was chasing him directly into my path.”  
  
“That’s when he sliced your forearm?”  
  
“There was no weapon visible as I began the pursuit. When I reached to tackle him, he produced it from where it had been hidden.”  
  
“How long were you in surgery? How many stitches did it take to close the wound?” Dr. Yamamoto prompted when Steve stopped.  
  
“I don’t see the relevance,” Steve said, standing abruptly. The doctor thought he might be about to bolt but instead went to stand in front of the window, staring out without seeing the scenery.  
  
“Only in that it was the beginning of your current situation,” Dr. Yamamoto said.  
  
“I suppose,” Steve said, looking down at the scar that ran from the inside of his wrist up to the inside of his elbow. It was still pink, the indentations from the stitches clear. Dr. Brooks had done an excellent job repairing the damage, both times. Steve was kept in the hospital for 36 hours after the surgery as a precaution, despite his protests. It was after he was released that the real trouble started.  
  
~0~  
  
Danny had taken him home from the hospital, of course. The fact that Danny hadn’t left his side the entire 36 hours made it inevitable at any rate. The wound was ugly, indicating the seriousness of the injury. The surgery to repair the muscles, tendons, and vessels had lasted much longer than the team had expected. As they waited, they tried to keep the worst case scenarios from playing out in their heads _– the blood loss was too much and he’d died on the table; they weren’t able to repair all the damage and now Steve had only one arm; they had lost him in the maze of hospital corridors and didn’t know where he was._  
  
Those thoughts finally stopped chasing around their heads when Dr. Brooks emerged, tired and relieved. “He lost a lot of blood, as you are all too aware,” he told Steve’s team. “There was a lot of damage, but we were able to repair it. We need to keep him for observation for the next 36 hours at a minimum.”  
  
“Thank you,” Chin said. Kono was silently crying in relief. Danny was staring at the doctor as though he was certain they’d been some mistake and Steve truly had died.  
  
“He’ll be fine after treatment and physical therapy,” Dr. Brooks emphasized, mostly speaking to Danny and the lost look on his face.  
  
“Yes, of course,” Danny said, finally emerging from the haze and seeing the relief on the doctor’s face. “Thank you. When can we see him?”  
  
“Once he’s settled in a room, the nurse will let you know,” Dr. Brooks assured them.  
  
Danny sank back in his chair, grateful and exhausted. Steve was going to be okay.  
  
The nurse came and got them shortly after midnight, escorting them to Steve’s room. He was still under the effects of the anesthesia, muttering words they could not make out. He was restless, twitching and shifting.  
  
The nurse, Hanalei Māhoe, had not previously had a member of Five-0 as a patient and attempted to argue with Danny about staying overnight. “Commander McGarrett will be fine, Detective. There’s no reason for you to remain.”  
  
“You’ve never been his nurse before,” Kono said softly. It wasn’t a question for all it sounded like it could have been.  
  
“He’ll leave as soon as he wakes up if Danny’s not here,” Chin added.  
  
“He’s too weak to do anything more strenuous than sleep,” Hanalei responded, looking at them in turn, her expression that of someone about to call for back-up to deal with the _crazy_ that exuded from these three people.  
  
“If he’s staying overnight, so am I,” Danny said in finality. “If you don’t believe it’s necessary, I recommend you contact Dr. Brooks. You can be certain he’ll voice no objection. In fact, I’m willing to wager he’ll encourage you to allow me to stay.”  
  
“Perhaps I will contact Dr. Brooks,” Hanalei said, thinking she was calling their bluff.  
  
“I recommend it,” Chin said. When she looked at him, her tension ebbed ever so slightly. He seemed far less volatile than did the short blond haole who was wound far too tight for her comfort.  
  
She gave a curt nod and left the room. Only a few minutes passed before she returned, her expression completely blank. “Dr. Brooks confirms that your presence may be all the ensures that the Commander remains.”  
  
“Thank you,” Danny said, refusing to gloat. He was too tired to feel any victory, especially with Steve too pale and too restless in the bed. The too pale was in contrast to the dark red stains covering Danny’s shirt and pants – Steve’s blood that should have still been inside of him. If only he’d been able to stop the bleeding sooner.  
  
“I’ll get you some scrubs,” Hanalei said softly, an unspoken apology in her tone. She’d seen Danny look down at his clothes and knew how the sight of the blood must make him feel.  
  
“Thank you,” Chin responded. He was pretty sure Danny hadn’t heard. All of his focus was on Steve.  
  
Danny had pulled the chair up next to the bed to take hold of Steve’s left hand. “It’s okay, babe. We’re here.”  
  
The words and the contact settled Steve. His anxious muttering turned into a sigh, his body and face relaxing into true, unfettered sleep.  
  
~~~  
  
“You’re being ridiculous,” Steve told him the next evening from the hated hospital bed. If it weren’t for the IV and the heart monitor, Steve would have slipped out the first chance he saw.  
  
“I am not. You would have left already if I weren’t here,” Danny said. Accurate to a fault but Steve wasn’t going to confirm it. “Stop fighting the meds and go to sleep.”  
  
“Don’t tell me what to do,” Steve retorted. It would have been far more effective if he weren’t struggling to keep his eyes open.  
  
“If you listened when I told you what to do, you wouldn’t be in the hospital, again. Why? Why won’t you ever listen to me?” Danny demanded. “I was one minute away. One minute, Steven. But you couldn’t wait. No. Not you. Run full steam after the suspect. Get in his way. Get your arm nearly sliced off.”  
  
Danny continued with his lecture complete with much hand waving. Steve watched but didn’t really listen. He let the sounds wash over him, soothing the last of the anxiety he’d never admit to feeling since the blood had started spurting out of his arm with each heart beat. He’d been hurt worse but there was something especially distressing about watching your own blood coat your shirt and your pants, pooling on the sidewalk next to you. Only Danny’s quick arrival and quick thinking prevented Steve from bleeding to death. He’d used his belt as a tourniquet, slowing the blood flow until the EMTs had arrived to transport him to the hospital.  
  
“…so once you’re back to work, we’re discussing, again, proper chase procedure,” Danny was saying when Steve tuned back in.  
  
“I’ll be at work tomorrow,” Steve informed him.  
  
“No. No you won’t. The doctor said you need to stay out until Monday. _I’ll_ be going to work tomorrow. Then I’ll be spending the weekend at your house, making sure you don’t do anything especially stupid.”  
  
“You don’t have to babysit me, Danno. I know I have to take it easy,” Steve said, watching Danny’s blue eyes flash.  
  
“’Take it easy’ he says. Like he has any idea what that means. ‘Take it easy.’ What’s your definition of that, huh? Swim 5 miles instead of 10? Run a marathon instead of a triathlon?” Danny demanded. Steve carefully schooled his expression to prevent Danny from seeing how amused he really was by this rant.  
  
“I do not swim 5 miles,” Steve finally responded.  
  
“You may as well,” Danny said.  
  
“And I’ve never participated in a triathlon,” Steve said. “I have considered it.”  
  
“Well, that training will have to wait for at least a month. So will swimming your not-five miles.”  
  
“I’m not waiting a month to swim,” Steve protested.  
  
“Yes you are. Doctor’s orders. You’ll destroy the stitches if you swim sooner. Or reopen the wound. Or it will become infected. You have been seriously injured. _Seriously injured._ You have to heal, like a normal human being. Not that you have any idea what that means.”  
  
“Please stop,” Steve said, closing his eyes. “You are giving me a headache.”  
  
Danny’s demeanor changed immediately with those words. He was standing next to the bed, holding tight to Steve’s left hand. “Hey, babe. Are you okay? The truth.”  
  
Steve squinted up at him, sorry he had put that worried expression on his friend’s face. It hadn’t been his intention. “I’m fine, Danno. I do have a headache but you didn’t give it to me.”  
  
“How’s your arm? Do you need more pain meds?” Danny asked, soothing the line between Steve’s eyes. That always meant he was hiding something.  
  
Steve took a spare second to wonder when Danny had gotten so good at reading all of his secrets then dismissed the stray thought. It was only because they were partners and friends that Danny knew him so well. It was normal. Right?  
  
“Hey,” Danny said, a hand warming Steve’s chest. “You with me?”  
  
“Yeah. I’m here,” Steve said, seeing even more concern in the lines around Danny’s eyes and mouth. “I don’t need more pain meds.”  
  
“Okay,” Danny said, sitting back in the chair but not releasing Steve’s hand.  
  
That was normal too, right? For friends and partners? Not for the first time, Steve wished he was better at mammal-to-mammal communication, as Danny put it. Words he was good with. But sometimes the more subtle forms of communication eluded him. Maybe Danny would help clue him in. But then he’d have to admit why he wanted to learn. And that would lead to disaster, he was pretty sure.  
  
The thoughts chasing around his head eventually wore him out and he fell asleep, aware that he wasn’t home. But Danny was there and that made it safe for him to sleep.  
  
~~~  
  
As promised, Danny had taken him home the next morning. After fussing over him, making sure he had everything he needed in his bedroom, and that he would take his pain medication, Danny went to work. Of course he only left after he had extracted Steve’s solemn promise to leave the bed only to go to the bathroom or downstairs long enough to get something to eat.  
  
“I was knifed in the arm, Danny. I didn’t lose a kidney,” Steve finally said in exasperation as Danny continued to lecture him on taking care of himself.  
  
“You don’t listen. You don’t do as you’re told. How can I help but worry?” Danny asked, fists on his hips as he frowned down at Steve.  
  
“I will do exactly as I’m told. Go home. Take a shower. Go to work. I’ll see you tonight,” Steve said from where he lay in his bed, trying to look as innocent and obedient as possible. Danny was being ridiculous. Steve was fine. Yes, his arm was throbbing but several hours of surgery and 42 stitches would do that to a person. He’d take the pain medication as soon as Danny left. He was only refusing to do it in front of him as a matter of principle. Stupid, sure. But he didn’t want it to look like Danny had completely cowed him.  
  
“Fine. I’m calling you in a couple of hours. If you answer the phone, you will be in serious trouble.”  
  
“That makes no sense,” Steve informed him.  
  
“Neither do you,” Danny said with a sigh. “Seriously, babe. Call me if you need anything.”  
  
“I will. I promise,” Steve said sincerely, Danny’s warm, worried tone making him need to reassure him.  
  
“All right. I’ll see you tonight. You want me to stop and pick up some shrimp from Kamekona?”  
  
“That’d be perfect,” Steve agreed.  
  
With a nod and a backward glance, Danny left.  



	2. But No Glitter

Steve knew that Dr. Yamamoto was waiting for him relate what had happened after that first day. Steve wasn’t 100% certain himself. He’d pieced it together from what his _ohana_ had told him and the flashes he could remember. The memories that had surfaced weren’t clear and made no sense, not even to him.   
  
“Did you listen to him?” Dr. Yamamoto prompted. “Did you stay in bed?”  
  
“I slept. The pain medication does that. When he got there after work, I was on the couch watching TV.”  
  
“What did he say?” the doctor asked, a smile in his voice.  
  
“He…uhm…he sniffed my hair,” Steve said softly.  
  
“Sniffed your hair.”  
  
“He said he could tell by the way my hair smelled whether or not I’d been swimming. When he didn’t smell the ocean, he knew I hadn’t swum,” Steve explained, the doctor chuckling in response.  
  
“He is a good friend.”  
  
“The best,” Steve confirmed.   
  
“What happened next?” Dr. Yamamoto asked when the silence stretched out for too long and Steve showed no inclination to break it.  
  
“Everything was fine until Saturday night,” Steve said, looking back out the window.  
  
“Is that when the fever started?”  
  
“I guess it started some time Saturday afternoon. But it was a hot day and I didn’t really notice. Danny had to go in, to join Chin and Kono to investigate the cartel we thought we’d busted down to nothing. I was sleeping when he left but he’d written me a note,” Steve said.   
  
“And when he got to your house that night?”  
  
“I wasn’t there,” Steve admitted, knowing full well that the doctor already knew what occurred.  
  
“What do you remember of what happened?”  
  
“The first thing I remember was Danny standing over me, talking to me. He was using the voice he generally reserves for Grace.”  
  
“That’s his daughter?”  
  
“Yeah. She’s ten. She’s…well, she’s perfect,” Steve said, love in his voice and on his face. The doctor smiled in response to Steve’s.  
  
“Did you know why he was talking to you using that tone?”  
  
“At first I thought Grace had gotten hurt and he was trying to calm her down. It was dark. I could hear the surf and I was coated in sand,” Steve said, looking down at his pants as though to make sure they weren’t still covered with it. “I had on board shorts but no shirt. Danny thought I got too hot and took it off,” Steve said with a shrug.  
  
“And how far from home were you?” Dr. Yamamoto prompted.  
  
“Four miles, more or less,” Steve admitted. “I was wearing shoes.”  
  
“Your combat boots,” the doctor guessed from his previous experiences.  
  
“Yes. Danny kept talking to me until he was able to take my gun.”  
  
“It was loaded?”  
  
“Yes,” Steve confirmed, sounding a little embarrassed. “He’d unloaded it before he went to HQ but I found the extra magazines. I don’t remember getting them out of the closet but I must have done.”  
  
“It’s in your training, Steve. You don’t have reason to be embarrassed by doing what has become instinct.”  
  
“I could have killed him. I could have killed a stranger,” Steve said in a hard tone.  
  
“You didn’t,” Dr. Yamamoto said. “Detective Williams reported that you at no time threatened him. You were reluctant to surrender your gun but only because you were determined to keep both of you safe.”  
  
“Safe,” Steve repeated. That was a strange word to use when he’d been wondering the beaches of Oahu with his SIG-Sauer fully loaded.  
  
“Detective Williams crawled into your makeshift bunker with you. You’d dug it quite deep above the high tide line by the time he found you. You were facing toward the ocean with your night vision goggles within arm’s length.”   
  
“Who was after us? Did I say?” Steve asked, equal parts embarrassed and curious. It was not a topic he was comfortable discussing with Danny. Even after all the time that had passed, the emotions were still too close to the surface for him to talk about it.   
  
“The report I read said you were on watch for the ‘enemy.’ You never specified who that was.”  
  
Steve nodded. He supposed that made sense. He had chased after plenty of “enemies” in his day. Didn’t much matter which one he thought was after him when he’d dug a bunker on the beach. “The next thing I remember was waking up in the hospital. I was freezing.”  
  
“From the ice they placed on you to help control your fever,” the doctor prompted.  
  
“They said it had gone up to 105.2. I was delirious. I had developed an infection in the wound and it had gone untreated. Plus I had gotten it contaminated with sand,” Steve said, looking again down at his arm. They’d had to reopen the flesh, flush it out, and pack it with medication while he was being treated for the fever. “They eventually handcuffed me to the foot of the hospital bed. Not even Danny could stop me from getting up. And they didn’t want to keep me sedated the entire time.”  
  
“And you were in the hospital for four full days?” the doctor asked, as much for confirmation as being a true question.  
  
“The second and third day, I mostly knew where I was. Apparently I had bouts of confusion, thinking I was being held prisoner,” Steve admitted. “By the fourth day, the fever was completely gone and I was discharged. Again.”  
  
“What happened when you got home?” Dr. Yamamoto asked in his coaxing tone.  
  
~0~  
  
Steve hadn’t wanted Danny to come to take him home the second time. He was embarrassed that he’d been so irrational during the fever and it didn’t matter how many times Danny, Chin, Kono, or Dr. Brooks told him he wasn’t to blame, it was hard for him to believe it.   
  
“Because Chin can come get me,” Steve said over the phone. He suspected Danny was actually in the parking lot although he’d refused to admit it to Steve.  
  
“Or I can,” Danny said. “You were ill, Steven. You didn’t hurt me. You didn’t hurt anyone but yourself. Why are you all Patty Pouty over what happened?”  
  
“Patty Pouty?” Steve asked.  
  
“It was one of Grace’s dolls. Stop changing the subject. I’ll be there in ten minutes to take you home,” Danny said with a finality Steve knew not to bother to argue with.  
  
“Fine,” Steve sighed. “Fine. But then you’re going right back to headquarters.”  
  
“We’ll see,” Danny said, hanging up. Steve sat staring at his phone. Danny had decided. That was that.  
  
“That wasn’t ten minutes,” Steve said when Danny came into the hospital room with the requisite wheelchair. Steve already had on the sweatpants and tee shirt that Danny had brought him the day before.  
  
“Ehh…who’s counting?” Danny said, waving it off. “I have your meds and care instructions. We have to watch very carefully for any swelling. You don’t have any personal effects. They burned your shorts and I took your boots already. So you couldn’t use them as part of your escape. Here are your flip flops. Or _slippahs_ as you insist on calling them. Although those are bedroom shoes, not beachwear. But why am I trying to and talk sense into you? Especially now.”  
  
“Please. Stop talking,” Steve requested as he got into the hated wheelchair, careful of his right arm. They had casted it this time, to keep it cleaner and to protect the healing muscles and tendons that had been slashed. Although he hadn’t thought it was possible, it hurt even worse than it had after he’d first been attacked. This pain was the result of all the treatment he’d received, he knew. He wouldn’t be pretending to take the pain medication this time. He’d take it religiously just like the heavy duty antibiotics they had prescribed. That was in follow-up to the ones that had been in his IV for the past three and a half days.  
  
“You have a follow-up appointment with Dr. Brooks in a week. I’ll be bringing you. So I’ll know if you have permission to return to work instead of listening to you lie about what he said,” Danny said conversationally as he pushed Steve down the hallway. “Once the stitches are out, you’ll have physical therapy. I know you think you can just power through your recovery but you have some severely damaged muscles. They will need help to recover.”  
  
“Fine,” Steve said, trying to sound grumpy. In truth, he really did appreciate everything Danny had done and was doing for him. He just didn’t want to have to admit it to anyone, even himself.  
  
Danny pushed him over to the Camaro where it waited by the curb. Steve mostly got into the car by himself when Danny held the wheelchair steady. Certain Steve was in, Danny took the chair back inside the hospital, returning quickly.  
  
“I’m not going anywhere,” Steve told him.  
  
“What? We’re going to your house. What are you talking about?” Danny demanded as he pulled away from the curb.  
  
“You ran back from returning the wheelchair. Like you expected me not to be here when you came out,” Steve said, taking his extra pair of sunglasses out of the glove compartment. They helped his headache recede a little when he had them on.  
  
“I can never be sure. It’d be just like you to take off in my car before I could get into it. You think I don’t know what you are capable of, my friend? Because I do,” Danny told him, glancing over at him to judge his condition.   
  
“I do know,” Steve confirmed, closing his eyes, his head back against the rest.  
  
“Truth – how are you feeling?” Danny asked firmly.  
  
“Outside of a headache, I’m pretty much okay,” Steve decided. “My arm hurts but I think that’s to be expected.”  
  
“Yeah,” Danny agreed. “You need to drink extra. ‘Push fluids’ is what Dr. Brooks said. Because you were very close to complete dehydration.”  
  
“That’s not your fault,” Steve told him.  
  
“I should have checked. I should have made sure. I know how stubborn you are. I’ll make sure you get enough to drink this time,” Danny said.  
  
“Okay,” Steve agreed. It was easier than trying to stand up for himself. And he knew Danny was right. He did need to drink more than he had been. The underlying nausea he’d felt since being knifed hadn’t helped. And maybe he’d forgotten to mention that but it was much better now so why would he bother? “Did you guys find ʻAkamu?”  
  
“Not yet,” Danny said. It turned out Ahu ʻAkamu was the actual mastermind behind the drug cartel, and not Huphau whom they had captured in the raid that had gotten Steve injured. “We have a lead on his hideout. Chin is checking out the neighborhood for any suspicious activity. And we think we found his wife. But she’s denying it and is less than loquacious.”  
  
“You couldn’t say ‘she won’t talk’? Like a normal person?” Steve asked, making Danny frown at him. “All right. What else?” Steve asked, waving away Danny’s unhappiness.  
  
“That’s about it for now. I have some of the surveillance reports with me. You can look them over from your bed where you will be going as soon as we get you inside,” Danny said in his best ‘lecturing’ voice.  
  
“Yes sir,” Steve said, frowning over at him.  
  
“You know I’m right,” Danny said. “Doris called. She wants to know if she should come home to help.”  
  
“No,” Steve said firmly. “The last thing I need is her fussing over me. You’re bad enough.”  
  
“Did you just compare me unfavorably to your mother?” Danny demanded.  
  
“Stop yelling at me. You’re making my headache worse,” Steve said. “Is she having fun with Mick?”  
  
“She said she is,” Danny said. “They are having lunch with Mary again tomorrow.”  
  
“That’s good,” Steve said, looking up at his house when Danny had stopped in the driveway. “Good to be home.”  
  
“I know the feeling,” Danny agreed, coming around the car to help Steve out, ignoring his protests that he was perfectly capable of making it to his front door all by himself.  
  
Together they got Steve upstairs and into his bed. He lay down gratefully, arms too heavy to hold up off the soft surface. Danny shook his head before carefully lifting both of Steve’s feet onto the bed.   
  
“What do you want to drink?” Danny asked as Steve scooted further onto the bed.  
  
“Water’s fine,” Steve said, his tongue sticking to the roof of his mouth as he said.  
  
“I’ll be right back with it. I’ll bring a couple extra bottles so you won’t have to come down for it,” Danny said.  
  
“Then you can go back to work,” Steve said, his left arm over his eyes.  
  
“I have my laptop. Chin and Kono have done all the recon. And it’s after 3:00. I’ll go in tomorrow,” Danny said.  
  
Steve grunted in response, far too tired to argue. He started awake when Danny reentered his bedroom. He had no idea he’d fallen asleep in the short amount of time Danny had been downstairs.  
  
“Here,” Danny said, handing him an opened bottle of water with one hand and his two pills with the other. Steve washed down both tablets, emptying the bottle of water without taking a breath. “Why didn’t you tell me you were so thirsty?” Danny asked, opening a second bottle for him.  
  
“I didn’t know,” Steve said, drinking the second bottle much more slowly. “You hear from Catherine?”  
  
“She’s on patrol in the Indian Ocean, I think,” Danny said. “She sends her love. As does Rachel. And Grace wants to come over and write on your cast.”  
  
“Did you tell her she can write on my cast any time?” Steve asked with what passed for a smile. It was the best he could do at the moment. He returned the empty bottle to Danny before laying flat down.  
  
“Of course. She said something about colored markers and glitter,” Danny said with a laugh.   
  
“Glitter,” Steve repeated with a shiver, making Danny laugh again.  
  
“I’ll nix the glitter but I don’t think I can do anything about the colored markers,” Danny said.   
  
“Appreciate it,” Steve agreed with a yawn.  
  
“Go to sleep. You need anything else before I go down?”  
  
“No. Thank you. I don’t think I remembered to tell you that before,” Steve said, sleep weighing down each word.  
  
“You don’t have to thank me, babe. That’s what best friends do,” Danny assured him from the doorway. “I’ll be right downstairs. Give a holler if you need anything.”  
  
Steve grunted, back asleep before Danny was fully in the hallway.  
  
~~~  
  
“It’s okay, babe. You can let me up,” Danny said. Steve had him pinned on the bed, holding both of Danny’s wrists over his head with his left hand.   
  
It wasn’t that Danny hadn’t imagined what it would be like to have Steve laying on top of him, but not under these circumstances. He’d about given up hope that the circumstances would ever be right for him to be in bed with Steve. Unless he had a fever and wasn’t quite sure what he was doing. “Can you let me up? You’re about to crush me.”  
  
Steve rose up on his left elbow to look down at Danny, a confused expression on his face. “What are you doing here?”  
  
 “It’s 10:00 in the morning, babe. You’ve been asleep for almost 19 hours. I was getting worried,” Danny said. Steve had tackled him so swiftly it had been a blur to Danny. He’d never seen anyone move so quickly but he wasn’t all that surprised Steve had done it. Even sick he was stealthy and deadly.  
  
Steve finally rolled off of him, turning his head to look at Danny. Even though Steve was trying to keep his face blank, Danny could see the guilt leaking through.   
  
“Why aren’t you at work?” Steve asked, looking up at the bright ceiling.  
  
“Because you didn’t wake up. I wasn’t going to leave you when you were nearly comatose,” Danny explained, sitting up.  “You must need to use the bathroom by now. Because if you don’t, we have a much bigger problem on our hands.”  
  
“I went twice during the night,” Steve said, carefully standing up beside the bed. “I need to go now.”  
  
“All right. Do you want something to eat? Are you hungry?”  
  
“I’ll know once I wake up,” Steve said, making his way to the bathroom, shuffling along and hating feeling like an old, old man. Danny was still in his bedroom when he returned, changing the sheets on the bed. Steve had no choice but to sit in the chair as Danny finished fluffing and fussing. Steve knew Danny held no ill-will toward him for the attack. Steve wished he could be as forgiving of himself. “Go to work.”  
  
“After I make sure you eat,” Danny said. “Kono and Chin brought over fruit salad last night. I’ll get you some.”  
  
“Okay,” Steve agreed, slowly moving from the chair to the freshly made bed. He sat up against the headboard, automatically accepting the two tablets from Danny. Danny kept an eagle eye on him as he washed them both down. “I took them in the middle of the night too,” Steve told Danny, unnecessarily proud when Danny nodded with a smile.  
  
“Good boy,” Danny said. “I’ll be right back.”  



	3. Operation Piikoi Street

“Did you know it was Danny when you tackled him?” Dr. Yamamoto asked when Steve paused from telling him about threatening Danny.  
  
“I don’t know,” Steve admitted.   
  
“Again, Danny understands that you acted on instinct. He doesn’t blame you,” Dr. Yamamoto reminded Steve.  
  
“I could have killed him,” Steve said quietly.  
  
 “You didn’t. You never harmed him,” the doctor emphasized.  
  
“I didn’t. But he wouldn’t let Grace come,” Steve said softly.  
  
“What did he say about it?”  
  
Steve shrugged, looking longingly out the window.  
  
“Was he concerned for her safety? Or yours? Or possible the glitter appearing on your cast,” Dr. Yamamoto prompted with a smile.  
  
“Her safety and mine,” Steve said before turning to look the doctor in the eye. “I would never hurt Grace.”  
  
“I know that. And so does Danny.”  
  
“He still kept her away,” Steve said.  
  
“Were you up to a visit? Were you mobile? Had you showered?”  
  
“I couldn’t shower. Not yet,” Steve admitted. “And mostly I had to stay in bed.”  
  
“An understandable outcome of a fever and infection as severe as yours,” Dr. Yamamoto said. “He brought Grace over that week, didn’t he?”  
  
“On Wednesday night. He said it would be a good test as to my stamina for returning to work on Thursday,” Steve said, smiling at the thought of finally seeing Grace. She had drawn on his cast and he didn’t have the heart to tell her it would probably be cut off at his doctor’s appointment the next morning. If it were, he’d just have her decorate the new one, still less the glitter.  
  
“And they spent the night with you?”  
  
“We dropped Grace off at school and then went for my follow-up appointment,” Steve agreed.  
  
“How did you react when Dr. Brooks said you had to stay out until Monday?”  
  
“I…wasn’t pleased,” Steve said, the understatement loud and clear.  
  
~0~  
  
“What do you mean, I can’t return to work until Monday?” Steve demanded far too loudly for the size of the room where he had been examined by Dr. Brooks. He was glad Danny was in the waiting area because he would hardly approve of Steve’s demeanor. Which was apparently not enough reason for Steve to discontinue staring at the doctor with the laser-like focus he generally reserved for suspects of major crimes.  
  
Dr. Brooks, accustomed to dealing with stubborn members of the military, simply stared back at him.  
  
“I’m fine. I haven’t had a fever since Saturday. My arm barely hurts.”  
  
“First of all,” Dr. Brooks said, holding up his index finger and making Steve want to snap it off. “You need to stop yelling at me. Two, you haven’t admitted to having a fever. But from the state of your urine, I’m confident you kept that information to yourself. Three, your arm ‘barely hurts.’ Even with the number of finely placed stitches I put in it, both times, it shouldn’t hurt unless you make contact with something.”  
  
Steve glanced down at his freshly casted arm. A new canvas for Grace to cover. Looking at the evidence of his injury was preferable to meeting the disapproving stare of his doctor. “I apologize,” Steve finally gritted out. “But I’m fine. And I need to go back to work.”  
  
“Then you don’t trust your taskforce,” the doctor said, crossing his arms as he stared at Steve. It may have been a question but it sounded like an accusation.  
  
“Of course I trust them,” Steve responded tightly.  
  
“Then trust them not to fall apart without you there,” Dr. Brooks said. “I’m not keeping you from work because I think you want to watch more crappy TV. I’m keeping you out because you could end up digging another bunker and using it to hide from the enemy.”  
  
Steve frowned, looking away from Dr. Brooks. “Monday,” Steve finally conceded. “Do I need to come see you before?”  
  
“Not unless you are still in pain or have a fever. Or if there is any swelling. If the cast feels tighter than it does right now, call me immediately. Immediately. And _please_ take your temperature twice a day. Keep a record and email it to me Sunday night,” Dr. Brooks instructed. “I fully intend to tell Detective Williams the same thing. Otherwise I know you’ll ignore me.”  
  
“Danny is _not_ my keeper,” Steve said, a hard edge of anger in his voice.  
  
“I’m well aware of that. I’m also aware of how often you try to lie your way out of treatment. Danny is one of the few people outside the Navy to whom you actually listen.”  
  
“Mostly,” Steve agreed reluctantly.  
  
“I’ll take _mostly_ ,” Dr. Brooks said with a nod. “I’m going to refill your antibiotics. Do you need more pain meds?”  
  
“No,” Steve said with a sigh. “I’ve been taking them but there are plenty left.”  
  
“All right. Can you get your shirt back on while I go talk to Detective Williams?”  
  
Steve nodded, reaching for his tee shirt.  
  
“Come to my office when you’re ready,” Dr. Brooks instructed as he left. He went into the waiting room to invite Danny into his office.   
  
“How’s he doing?” Danny asked, wondering where Steve was. That question was quickly answered when Steve knocked and entered, looking grumpy. “Never mind. I see.”  
  
“I’ve informed him he’s not to return to work until Monday,” Dr. Brooks said firmly, glancing between Steve and Danny. “And as Steve pointed out, I know you are not his keeper. However….”  
  
“He thinks I’m too stubborn to listen,” Steve said. It could be said he was pouting but neither Danny or Dr. Brooks were about to mention it.  
  
“Surely you didn’t bother to deny it,” Danny said, staring at Steve.  
  
Steve shrugged, looking across at the doctor.   
  
“Monday,” Danny acknowledged.  
  
“Please watch for swelling beneath his cast. Steve has my cell phone number. If the cast becomes tight, call me whatever time it may be. I need him to record his temperature twice a day and email me the record,” Dr. Brooks said. “Again, I know you are not the boss of him but if you could _encourage_ him to comply, I’d appreciate it.”  
  
“Understood,” Danny said, reaching into his pocket when his phone vibrated. He frowned at the text, glancing over at Steve.  
  
“What? What’s wrong?” Steve asked.  
  
“Kono has a lead on ʻAkamu,” Danny said, torn between his obligation to his job and to his best friend.  
  
“Go,” Steve said. “I’ll take a cab.”  
  
“Go directly to your house,” Danny instructed firmly before saying good-bye to Dr. Brooks and leaving them alone.  
  
“He’s quite a good friend,” Dr. Brooks said with the first real smile he’d had since he began his conversation with Steve.  
  
“The best,” Steve agreed with a nod. “Anything else?”  
  
“No. If you don’t have a fever, there’s no reason you can’t return to work Monday,” Dr. Brooks said, standing and rounding his desk. “I’ll have Ella call a cab for you.”  
  
“I can do it,” Steve said as he followed Dr. Brooks to the front of the office.  
  
“Yes you can. But I’d rather have Ella do it so I know for certain you don’t intend to jog home,” Dr. Brooks said, stopping by the front desk to ask his receptionist to call a taxi for the Commander. “Please wait in here for it. It’s too hot for you to wait outside.”  
  
Steve nodded, sitting in the reception area to watch out the window for the taxi. How had his life come to be given orders by a doctor and his best friend? He’d been knifed, not mortally wounded. This was ridiculous. And maybe his fever had returned during the night. But that was normal, right? When you were fighting off an infection? Maybe, just maybe, he was still really tired, but again, he hadn’t done anything for almost two weeks. Inactivity was always more tiring to him than running and swimming. What he needed was fresh air and to be engaged in something more intellectual than _SpongeBob SquarePants_ reruns. And he needed a distraction from all the thoughts he’d been having about Danny. Those thoughts weren’t new but had taken on a new intensity. Being with Danny in his house with no one else around wasn’t new. But Steve was having a harder time denying that his low-simmering attraction was about to burst into a conflagration. And there was apparently nothing he could do about it. _SpongeBob SquarePants_ was not enough to keep Steve from wishing for what was not his to have.  
  
He informed Ella that the taxi had arrived and she waved him out with a smile. He gave the taxi driver the address, not many minutes passing before he arrived at Iolani Palace. He made his way into the office, secure in the knowledge that his team was out looking for ʻAkamu.   
  
It was good to be at work, in a space other than his house. He sat behind his desk, relishing the feeling of being where he belonged. His desk hadn’t been disturbed in the time he’d been gone, a tidy pile of files on the corner. They hadn’t been there before but he figured they were a stack of reports waiting for his signature. He didn’t know why Danny hadn’t forged his signature like he normally did. Maybe it was because everyone knew he was out and it would have looked strange for him to be signing reports while home in bed.  
  
He reached for the first report, quickly reading through it. It was obviously Danny’s work – it was precise, organized, and made it sound like Steve’s use of a barrage of coconuts to stop a fleeing motorcycle was in fact standard police procedure. He grabbed the closest pen, intending to scrawl his name at the bottom, until he realized he was unable to grip the pen tightly enough. His fingers would not curl around the barrel. The cast prevented his wrist from bending at the requisite angle to sign the form. He stared at his arm for a long moment, stunned at the betrayal of his own body. He was incapable of placing his signature on a piece of paper.   
  
~0~  
  
“Did it occur to you then that Dr. Brooks may have been correct?” Dr. Yamamoto asked, the question lacking in the sarcasm Steve knew he deserved.  
  
“He was being overly cautious,” Steve tried.  
  
“Overly cautious,” Dr. Yamamoto repeated, letting it hang there in accusation.  
  
“He was right,” Steve conceded reluctantly.   
  
“He was,” Dr. Yamamoto agreed. “What did the others say when they got back?”  
  
“Before or after they righted my office?” Steve asked.  
  
“How much damage did you do?”  
  
“I didn’t _break_ anything,” Steve said. “I…well. It hardly matters.”  
  
~0~  
  
“What the ever-loving-hell?” Danny demanded when he’d opened Steve’s office door. Steve was laying on his couch, his feet still on the floor, his left arm over his eyes. There were papers everywhere, the floor blanketed with them. There was nothing remaining on Steve’s desk, his laptop and office phone on the floor with the papers. “I heard no tsunami warning.”  
  
“Boss?” Kono said as she snuck around Danny to stand over Steve. He could feel her looking down at him and suspected Chin was standing right beside her.  
  
“You aren’t supposed to be here,” Chin said.  
  
“No shit,” Steve ground out. He stopped himself from saying anything else. His anger was not with them. They had done nothing to deserve it.  
  
“What’d you do?” Danny asked as he joined Chin and Kono on the floor to gather the papers. “Take a cab here instead of home?”  
  
“It’s no wonder you are a detective,” Steve said. Snapping was not his customary reaction to being overtired and overly stubborn. Maybe he was putting up a barrier between him and his team, to make them as angry as he was. That wasn’t his customary reaction either. But at the moment, nothing seemed customary. Everything felt off-kilter, 5 degrees from vertical.  
  
“What did these files ever do to you?” Chin asked, reaching under the couch for some stray sheets.  
  
“Take the Boss home, Danny. We’ll deal with this,” Kono said.  
  
“Yeah,” Danny agreed, standing up. “Come on, babe. Let’s get you home.”  
  
“Don’t you _babe_ me. And don’t tell me what to do,” Steve practically shouted.  
  
“Whoa. Stand down, Steve,” Danny said, his hands up in a defensive posture. He signaled with his head for Chin and Kono to leave and waited until Steve’s door was closed. He pulled a chair over, sitting closer to the couch but leaving what he considered a safe distance between them. “Talk to me.”  
  
“Stop telling me what to do,” Steve repeated, lowering his arm to glare at Danny. Steve knew his anger was misplaced. He knew he should apologize to Danny, tell him that his frustration had reached the boiling point and it had nothing to do with Danny. In fact, Danny was the main reason it had taken this long. But none of those words could escape past the anger Steve could do nothing to suppress. And he was ashamed of himself for yelling at one of the people who had done the least to deserve it.  
  
“I wasn’t telling so much as inviting,” Danny said, watching him. “I get that you are frustrated. I don’t know how wrecking your office helps with that but we’ll take care of it.”  
  
“Stop babying me, dammit,” Steve yelled, sitting up abruptly to stare at Danny. “I’m not Grace. I’m not a child. Don’t talk to me like I am.”  
  
“What is it you want from me?” Danny asked as neutrally as he could.  
  
“For you to leave me the hell alone,” Steve said through clinched teeth.  
  
“No can do,” Danny said. “What else?”  
  
“Leave me alone,” Steve repeated, staring at Danny. His changeable eyes were slate grey, the color of the sky right before the storm broke.  
  
Danny sat and waited. He’d wait as long as it took.  
  
“Why are you still in here?” Steve demanded, laying back down and closing his eyes. “Go.”  
  
“I’ll leave. I’ll leave to take you home,” Danny said.  
  
“I’m not going home. I’m…staying here.”  
  
“For how long?” Danny asked, leaning over to get a bottle of water from the mini-frig. “Will you drink some water, please?”  
  
Steve accepted it with an angry frown, trying to twist off the lid. But he couldn’t hold the bottle firmly enough in his right hand to remove the top with his left. He hurled it at Danny who knew it was coming and easily caught it. Danny calmly removed the lid and returned it to Steve who accepted it.   
  
“Did that help?” Danny asked.  
  
“No,” Steve admitted.   
  
“What would help?”  
  
“I have no idea,” Steve admitted. “This sucks so hard.”  
  
“It does,” Danny said.  
  
“I’ll go crazy if I go back to my house. There’s nothing to keep me occupied.”  
  
“All right,” Danny said with a nod. He went to the office door, opening it to call over to Kono and Chin. “Initiate Operation Piikoi Street.”  
  
“Copy that,” Kono acknowledged.  
  
“Piikoi Street?” Steve repeated. “What are you talking about? Are you planning a raid on my house?”  
  
“In a way,” Danny said. “We’re invading and making it temporary HQ.”  
  
“You can’t do that,” Steve said with a frown.  
  
“Already done,” Chin informed him when he stuck his head in. “We’ll meet you there.”  
  
“Yep,” Danny agreed.  
  
“Wait,” Steve said, holding up a hand to Danny. “What’s going on?”  
  
“Chin has transferred all of our phones to your house. All the evidence is in the cloud. We’ll download it there and continue working on the ʻAkamu cartel case as well as couple of other less pressing cases. We’ll use flip charts and tape all of our theories to your wall,” Danny explained. He collected Steve’s laptop, checking to make sure it was still working. “What else do you need from here?”  
  
“Uhm…I don’t think there’s anything,” Steve said, looking around his office. “I’m sorry I yelled at you.”  
  
“You don’t need to apologize, babe. It was only a matter of time,” Danny assured him. “Now. May I please take you to temporary HQ?”  
  
“Yes,” Steve agreed. “And the governor knows?”  
  
“It was Denning’s idea,” Danny said, watching closely as Steve stood from the couch. That he was steady on his feet made Danny much more comfortable about his physical state. His mental and emotional state remained a work in progress but they were getting there.  
  
“Any luck with the lead Kono called you about?” Steve asked as they went down the stairs in the palace.  
  
“None. However, while I was out chasing after the information, I received a phone call from my ex-wife, mother of my very perfect daughter.”  
  
“Oh yeah?” Steve responded, looking over at him with a half formed smile.  
  
“Indeed. Would you like to know what the ex-wife said?” Danny teased.  
  
“I would,” Steve said with a nod. He could see on Danny’s face it was something good and Grace-related. Almost everything Grace-related fell into that category.  
  
“Stan has a… thing at a … place and we get to have Grace overnight,” Danny announced, pleased with Steve’s radiant smile. “She worried that us having Grace would be an inconvenience. I assured her it would not. Plus you have a brand new cast which needs to be decorated in an artistic manner which only my Monkey can accomplish.”  
  
“Still no glitter,” Steve laughed. He was beyond pleased that he’d get to see Grace unexpectedly. It also warmed his heart that no matter how angry he was, Danny had no hesitation in bringing her over to his house. After Steve had yelled at him in his office, Danny could have called Rachel and said things were not favorable for having Grace. But he didn’t. They would have her overnight.  
  
“No glitter,” Danny promised. “As far as the cartel case goes, we think the informant out-and-out lied. We’ll go over all the evidence when we get ho…to your house. Fresh eyes may see something new.”  
  
“Not sure how ‘fresh’ my eyes will be,” Steve said, opening the passenger door.  
  
“Are you admitting you are human? Because I’m not sure my heart can take the shock,” Danny said, making a great show of clutching his chest.  
  
“Shut up and drive,” Steve said, the corners of his mouth still curved with happiness at thought of having both Grace and her father under his roof one more night.  
  
“As you wish,” Danny said, pulling out the parking lot.  
  
When Steve and Danny arrived, Kono and Chin were set up in the dining room, equipment taking over much of the ground floor.   
  
“I really wish you’d rest for a little while,” Danny said as he trailed close behind Steve into the dining room. Danny’s hand rested on the small of Steve’s back, as though that’s where it belonged. The touch was so familiar and so comforting, Steve barely noticed. When he did realize, he found it be grounding in ways he could not understand.  
  
“I know you don’t want me here,” Steve said despite what he knew in his heart. He was striking out again, giving voice to his frustration but not able to articulate it honestly. Danny was right – he was emotionally retarded.  
  
“That’s not what I said,” Danny retorted, frowning at him. “You are still recovering. Dr. Brooks specifically said you were to come straight home. And did you listen? Of course not. Your stubborn ass went to the office where you had no business being. You are exhausted. I can see it. Chin can see it. Kono can see it. The astronauts on the space station can see it.”  
  
Steve looked away from Danny and his disapproving frown to where Chin and Kono were nodding in agreement. “I’m fine. You are worrying needlessly.”  
  
“Needlessly,” Danny said, shaking his head. “At least tell me you took your antibiotics and your pain medication.”  
  
“I _could_ tell you that,” Steve hedged.  
  
“But it would be a lie,” Kono supplied.  
  
“Steve,” Chin said, a world of disappointment in that one word.  
  
“I was going to take them,” Steve tried. When did it become necessary for him to explain his actions to his team? To anyone? What had become of his life?   
  
He heard Danny sigh just before he left the dining room. It didn’t take long for him to return with five bottles of water and two tablets.  
  
“I don’t need the pain med,” Steve said, swallowing the antibiotic. Danny stared at him, the tablet still laying on his palm. Steve tried everything he could to ignore Danny and the pill but it was useless.  
  
“You know it helps,” Chin said. It looked like he was focused on his computer when he was actually following every word, just like Kono was.  
  
Steve frowned even more but finally accepted the pill, washing it down and emptying his water. Danny silently opened a new bottle and handed it to Steve.  
  
“Tell me what you’ve found out so far,” Steve requested, scooting his chair a little closer to Chin and his monitor. Danny was silently trying to stare holes into him but Steve was able to mostly ignore his radiating disapproval.  
  
Chin reviewed the information with him, Kono and Danny looking over evidence they had examined a hundred times before. Nothing new came to them this time.  
  
“What was in the harbor warehouse?” Steve asked, pointing to the pictures that HPD had taken.  
  
“Nothing,” Chin said. “There were empty crates and Fong didn’t find any traces of drugs.”  
  
Steve coughed softly, shaking his head. “This makes no sense. He was there. We know he was.”  
  
Danny silently went into the kitchen, taking the last bottle of water from the fridge. “Where is the rest of the water?” Danny asked Steve when he was back in the dining room, Steve gulping from the bottle.  
  
“In the closet. Like always,” Steve said.  
  
“There isn’t any,” Danny said. “I’ll run to the store and get some.”  
  
“I’ll go,” Chin said, standing and stretching. “I’ll get us from lunch from next door to the grocery store.”  
  
“Sounds good,” Danny agreed. “You’ll need to take the Camaro. It’s behind your car.”  
  
“Roger that,” Chin said. “I won’t be long.” He left, the others returning to the study of the case.  
  
“You’re sure ʻAkamu is still on the islands?” Steve asked, looking at the surveillance photos. The “hideout” had been watched for an entire week and no one had come or gone. He’d turned invisible.  
  
“He’s on the no-fly list. We’ve checked all the harbors we know. There’s no evidence he left,” Kono said.  
  
“There’s no evidence he’s still here,” Steve pointed out.  
  
“His wife is still here. I doubt he’d leave her behind,” Danny said.  
  
“And he’s had no contact with her?” Steve asked.  
  
“None. She’s been at home, only leaving to run those usual errands. Even though she denies any involvement, we’re having her tailed,” Danny said.  
  
Steve frowned at that, looking at the pictures again. “He’s not holed up in their house?”  
  
“HPD searched it. _With a warrant._ They checked top to bottom. He’s not there,” Danny said.  
  
“All right,” Steve said. “Start again at the beginning.”  
  
“ _In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth_. And lo, it was good,” Danny said.  
  
“Har-har-har. You are quite the comedian,” Steve said, Kono laughing despite herself.  
  
“Why yes I am. I appreciate that you appreciate my talents, numerous and varied as they are.”  
  
“What happened after we raided his warehouse?” Steve asked, the corners of his mouth quirking as he fought the smile. When his almost-smile turned into a yawn, he was surprised that Danny let a chance to razz him go by.  
  
Kono explained about rounding up a handful of henchmen and a couple of computers. If the warehouse had been the cartel’s headquarters, they had done a thorough sweep before Five-0 and HPD arrived.  
  
“How did they know we were coming?” Danny asked, looking at the pictures from the raid. He straightened, frowning at the question he had uttered without thinking about it.  
  
“That is an excellent question,” Steve said. “Have you explored the idea of a mole?”  
  
“It didn’t occur to us. We need to see if Charlie can find any trackbacks to HPD,” Kono said, reaching in her pocket for her phone. “Hey Charlie,” she said before explaining what they needed.  
  
“If they knew we were coming, it would explain why there were so few of them left,” Steve agreed, yawning. “They stayed behind as decoys. But how did we miss the fact that they knew we were coming?”  
  
“Something about one of us nearly bleeding out?” Danny suggested.  
  
“I wasn’t about to bleed to death,” Steve said firmly.  
  
“Yeah you were,” Danny said. “If there’s a mole, we’ve bigger problems than we thought.”  
  
“Charlie’s on it,” Kono said. “He doesn’t know how much he can recover but he’s going to try.”  
  
“Is there a way to trace any phone calls from the warehouse to HPD?” Danny asked.  
  
“We’d have to have the phone they used. And they would have called cell to cell,” Kono explained.  
  
“Yeah,” Danny agreed.   
  
“What did we learn from the ones we arrested?” Steve asked.  
  
“HPD questioned them for several hours. Either they don’t know where ʻAkamu went or they are more accomplished at lying than we thought,” Danny said.  
  
“They aren’t smart enough to lie that accurately and consistently,” Kono said.   
  
“Yeah, I have to agree with that,” Danny said. “Even Huphau says he doesn’t know. He wasn’t happy that ‘Akamu had left him to be the fall guy. Considering the amount of trouble he’s in, he’d surely give up ‘Akamu if he knew.”  
  
“What else did we learn about ‘Akamu’s operation?” Steve asked.  
  
“The computer was wiped. Charlie was able to recover some of the files. Mostly monetary transactions. No names. No locations. From what we were able to find on the recovered files, ‘Akamu has enough money to remain a ghost for a really long time,” Kono said.  
  
“Kamekona have any ideas?” Steve asked. It was a long shot, but Kamekona often surprised them with what he was able to find out.  
  
“He’s keeping an ear to the ground,” Kono said. “So far, nothing.”  
  
“‘Akamu cannot have vanished,” Steve insisted. “We have to be missing something.”  
  
“If there’s an HPD mole, it would help explain his ability to drop off the radar,” Danny said.  
  
“Yeah,” Steve said curtly. “Did Huphau give us anything?”  
  
“He told us that the cartel has a fleet of boats,” Danny said. “He’s not sure how many. We found four of them but Huphau thinks that’s only the tip of the proverbial iceberg.”  
  
“Where were they docked?” Steve asked, looking at the map covering his dining room table.  
  
“Here, here, here, and here,” Kono said, pointing to the four separate harbors.   
  
“All different places?” Steve said. “How does that make sense?”  
  
“Makes it harder for us to track them,” Danny said. “They are all within five minutes of the warehouse. It’s a pretty good strategy.”  
  
“I suppose,” Steve said, looking toward his front door when it opened. Chin soon appeared juggling a case of water and a large bag from one of their favorite sandwich places. “Should we eat outside?”  
  
“You have to sit in the shade,” Danny reminded him.  
  
“I will,” Steve agreed, stopping in the kitchen to take down four plates. Danny snagged plenty of napkins as Kono filled four glasses with ice. “Anything else?”  
  
“I think we have everything,” Chin said, leaving the bulk of the water on the counter.  
  
“Did you tell them Grace is coming?” Steve asked as they all went outside. Kono and Chin claimed the sunny chairs as Danny and Steve sat in the shady ones.  
  
“He did,” Kono agreed, her smile dimpling her cheeks. “More art for your cast.”  
  
“Of course,” Steve said, devouring a third of his sandwich.  
  
“Whoa, wolf-boy. No one is going to take it from you,” Danny said, a hand on Steve’s right arm, resting lightly on the cast.  
  
“I didn’t know I was so hungry,” Steve admitted. He carefully wiped his mouth with a napkin, a little embarrassed that he had practically inhaled his food.  
  
“It’s a very good sign,” Chin told him.  
  
“It is,” Kono agreed, eating hers only slightly more delicately. She always could pack away the food.   
  
“I’m not a wolf. I’m a SEAL,” Steve informed Danny, making them all laugh.  
  
“As we are too aware,” Danny laughed.  
  
They ate their lunch and talked, filling in Chin on their theory of a mole. Chin agreed it made sense, not mentioning that if they hadn’t been distracted, they may have thought of it sooner.  
  
The conversation, sharing food with his friends, talking and even laughing - it all felt so _normal_ to Steve _._ He was glad for the _normal._ He felt like he’d been adrift but had finally returned to the harbor where he belonged.


	4. Still No Glitter

**  
**Steve had fallen asleep at the table. There had been some debate about moving him or letting him sleep with his head laying on his left arm. Danny had finally, gently coaxed him onto the couch, Steve muttering about SEALs and glitter and wolves.  
  
“Danny, it’s time to get Grace,” Kono reminded him quietly a little while after he’d settled Steve on the couch.  
  
Danny checked the clock on the computer, nodding in confirmation.   
  
“Your car is on the street. That way we could get out too,” Chin said.   
  
“Right,” Danny said, accepting his keys from Chin. “If wolf-boy wakes up, stand far enough back that he can’t attack you,” Danny reminded them.  
  
“Do you want me to go for Grace?” Kono asked in the same soft tone.  
  
“He’ll be okay. Being at home helps,” Danny said, crossing the living room after a final glance at Steve.  
  
Danny returned very shortly, frowning at Chin. “Did you say my car was on the street?”  
  
“Yeah,” Chin said, following Danny out. “Right beyond the hedge.” They had reached the end of the driveway to survey the empty street. “Right here.”  
  
“Well,” Danny said. “Some dumb ass apparently stole it. Who would steal a policeman’s car?” He was torn between really angry and really amazed that anyone could be so stupid.  
  
“I’m sorry, brah,” Chin said. “If I’d had any idea.”  
  
“Not your fault,” Danny said. “You’ll call HPD with the trace?”  
  
“Of course,” Chin agreed, taking out the keys to his car. “Here. We’ll track yours while you pick up Grace.”  
  
“Right. Call me if you find it before I get back,” Danny said.  
  
Chin agreed, going back into the house to help Kono trace the Camaro. Who would have stolen a policeman’s car from in front of a policeman’s house? Not that Steve considered himself a policeman but in truth he was.  
  
“Any luck, Cuz?” Chin asked.  
  
“I found his tracker,” she said, pointing to a parking lot in the less savory part of town. “I’ve alerted HPD.”  
  
“Good. They should be calling anytime,” Chin said.   
  
As predicted, not many minutes went by before Duke contacted Chin.  
  
“You found it?” Chin asked after he had greeted his friend.  
  
“Yeah,” Duke said. There was hesitation in his voice that gave rise to the hairs on the back of Chin’s neck.  
  
“What’s wrong?” Chin asked.  
  
“Can you and Danny come down here? I’d rather you see this than try to explain it to you,” Duke said.  
  
“Danny’s picking up Grace in my car. I’ll be there in Kono’s car as soon as I can,” Chin said, ringing off after confirming the address.  
  
“I’ll wait here for Danny,” Kono said before Chin had to ask. “Whatever it is, you don’t need to wait until he gets back.”  
  
“Yeah,” Chin agreed. “I’ll call once I’m there.”  
  
“Be careful,” Kono requested, walking with him to the front door. She checked on Steve on her way back through, glad he was still asleep.  
  
While he slept, Steve dreamed that he was on a ship. For all she was an old ship, she was solid and seaworthy. He was in the middle of a crystal blue sea, lighter than the turquoise surrounding his beloved islands.   
  
The ship creaked quietly as she rode the small swells. For as far as the eye could see, there was only water, water and the ship that was his haven. Her sails were filled with the wind that propelled them along, the wheel strong and responsive under his guidance.  
  
The ship was all gleaming surfaces of highly polished wood, loved and cared for by knowing hands. Her sails were pristine, every rigging in place, every line secured.   
  
She was a fine ship and he felt safe, at home aboard her. But there was an emptiness he couldn’t understand. Something was missing, a presence he couldn’t place. It didn’t worry him, this emptiness. Rather it made him sad, as though he was responsible for the piece that was not there.   
  
There was plenty of room aboard the ship for others. She could accommodate six crew members judging by her beam. But there was no one else aboard. He knew he was alone though he didn’t understand how he was so certain.  
  
The wind started to pick up, the wheel less easily handled. Rain began to fall, at first gently anointing him. As the clouds gathered, blocking out the sun, the drops grew larger, their contact stinging. Darkness descended suddenly, no lights to guide his movements on the deck. He feared he would be pitched overboard in the growing swells but he had to light the lamps, provide some means to see the edges of the deck.  
  
“Get the lamps,” he ordered. But it did no good. There was no one to carry out that order, no one to help him lower the canvas, no one to drop the sea anchor. He continued to shout his orders to the wind, no one there to respond.  
  
“Steve, babe. Wake up for me,” Danny was saying.   
  
How was that following his orders? Danny should be lowering the sails. He should not be the one giving the orders.  
  
“There are no sails, Steve. We’re not on a boat,” Danny told him firmly. “Wake up for me.”  
  
“Uncle Steve?”  
  
That voice got through to him. Danny would not allow Grace on a ship that was running in a storm. He’d kill Steve if he allowed his ship to be damaged while Grace was aboard.  
  
“That’s it, babe. Wake up for us,” Danny coaxed.  
  
Steve finally managed to get his eyes to open so that he could squint up at Danny. He looked concerned, one hand on Grace’s shoulder. She looked worried but for him, not for herself.  
  
“Hey, Grace-face,” Steve finally said, wondering where his voice had gone while he slept.  
  
“Here,” Kono said, appearing from behind them. She handed him a bottle of water which he drank gratefully.  
  
“I need to run out,” Danny was saying when Steve focused back on him.  
  
“Out?” Steve parroted, a frown of confusion appearing. “Didn’t you just get back?”  
  
“Yes,” Danny said. “I shouldn’t be too long. Grace and Kono are staying here with you.” The tone of his voice implied there had been a disagreement about that last part but Steve’s brain was too shrouded in the remaining sleep-fog to completely understand it.   
  
Danny and Kono went out the front door, their voices too low for him to hear the words. But he recognized the underlying anger in their tones and body language.  
  
Steve watched them leave before smiling up at Grace. “Did I frighten you? I’m sorry if I did.”  
  
“You didn’t scare me. You were shouting about the lamps and the sails,” Grace said, sitting beside him on the edge of the couch.   
  
“I was dreaming I was on a boat,” Steve confirmed. “A storm blew up suddenly.”  
  
“Why didn’t they take down the sails like you said?”  
  
“There was no crew,” Steve told her.  
  
“Oh. You must have been lonely.”  
  
“I was,” Steve agreed. “But I’m not now.”  
  
“Danno says you got a new cast,” Grace said, looking down at Steve’s arm.  
  
“I did. The doctor liked all the pictures you drew. He was sorry he had to ruin them,” Steve said, showing her the new cast. “Everything okay?” he asked Kono when she came back inside.  
  
“It’s fine,” she replied, her smile as bright as it was fake. “You want a snack, Grace?”  
  
“Mmm… not right now?” Grace decided, smiling up at Kono.  
  
“All right. I’m in the dining room if either of you need me.” She left before they had time to respond to her reminder.  
  
“Is Kono mad at us?” Grace asked Steve quietly.  
  
“I think she’s worried about me,” Steve decided. “But they know I don’t like them worrying. So they try to hide it.”  
  
Grace nodded like it made sense to her. “Can we watch _What’s Up With That?_ while I draw on your new cast?”  
  
“Absolutely,” Steve agreed. “You know where the remote is. And your colored pens are right where you left them.”  
  
Grace bounced over to the shelf that held her small collection of art supplies. Once she was settled on the couch next to Steve, she turned on the program, dividing her time between the TV and Steve’s cast.  
  
Steve watched as she draw her pictures with great care, the tip of her tongue peeking out of the corner of her mouth. He would never take her presence for granted. He was too grateful for the Grace-time Danny so generously shared with him.  
  
~0~  
  
“That’s when the dreams started?” Dr. Yamamoto asked.  
  
“Yes,” Steve agreed. “That was the first one.”  
  
“Did you know why you were having the same dream over and over?”  
  
“Not for a while,” Steve said. “I didn’t have it every time I slept.”  
  
“But that’s why you started to fight sleep,” Dr. Yamamoto prompted when Steve stopped.  
  
“That wasn’t the main…only reason,” Steve said. “My _ohana_ was in danger.”  
  
“I understand that, Steve,” Dr. Yamamoto said. “They are trained too. Not to the extent you are. But they are better equipped to defend themselves than most people are.”  
  
“But not as well as I am,” Steve insisted.  
  
“That fact is not in dispute,” Dr. Yamamoto said gently. “You had to know that going without sleep only dulled your reaction time. One of the first rules of combat is to be as prepared as possible. Going without sleep does not follow that rule.”  
  
“I know,” Steve snapped, taking a deep breath and trying again, his tone much milder. “I know.”  
  
“Tell me what they found when they got to Detective Williams’ car,” the doctor requested.  
  
“It had been riddled with bullets. Not to destroy it but to send us a message,” Steve said.  
  
“You knew it was the cartel?”   
  
“We figured it had to be. Later we did have conclusive proof. But when it happened, we couldn’t determine any other suspects,” Steve said.  
  
~0~  
  
Steve kissed Grace on the head, certain she was still content with her show before going into the dining room. There had been a lot of fierce whispering since Danny and Chin had gotten back, both putting up a cheerful, false front for Grace. They hadn’t told Steve what had happened, not yet. And he was determined to find out.  
  
“What did you find?” Steve demanded in the same hushed tones that they had been using.  
  
Danny went outside, crooking his finger for Steve to follow. “The Camaro is no more,” Danny told him. “And I can’t even blame you for it.”  
  
“The Camaro? What do you mean?” Steve asked, frowning down at him in confusion.  
  
“It was riddled with bullets. All the windows were blown out, every inch shot to hell,” Danny said grimly.  
  
“We would have heard to gun shots,” Steve said in confusion.  
  
Danny shook his head. “They stole it. We think they towed it to the deserted lot where we found it.”  
  
“They?” Steve said.  
  
“We suspect it’s the cartel but we don’t have any proof,” Danny said.  
  
“It’s a warning,” Steve said, anger building.  
  
“That’s our theory,” Danny agreed. “Wait. What are you doing?” Danny asked as Steve pulled his phone out of his pocket.  
  
“I’m calling Duke so he can assign patrols,” Steve said as though it was completely natural and he could not possibly understand why Danny failed to realize it.  
  
“You think they’re coming after us next,” Danny said with a frown.  
  
“It’s definitely a warning. After destroying your car, what’s the next step?” Steve asked.  
  
“Great. They must know where we all live. Especially if there’s a mole.”  
  
“You’ll have to stay here,” Steve decided. “All of you. Grace will need an escort.”  
  
Danny sighed with an unhappy frown. “Maybe Rachel needs to take her off the islands for a little while.”  
  
“Is that what you want?” Steve asked, a hand on Danny’s shoulder.  
  
“No. It is not what I want. What I want is for my baby girl to be able to grow up normally. But that dream flew out the window the day you kidnapped me for your elite crime fighting squad.”  
  
“Do you want me to say I’m sorry?” Steve asked, taking his hand back. He shoved it into his pocket to stop himself from reaching out and holding on tight.  
  
“No. You aren’t to blame, babe,” Danny said, looking up at him with crystal blue eyes. “I’ll call Rachel tomorrow. She and Stan can have their time at their thing tonight.”  
  
“Do you think that’s best? To wait until tomorrow?” Steve asked.  
  
“If the cartel wanted to hurt us, they would have,” Danny reminded him. “This is their first shot.”  
  
“Yeah,” Steve said, wishing things were just a little simpler. “Rachel’s going to be pissed that you waited.”  
  
“Score one for the team-Danno,” Danny said.  
  
“Not the way you want to score points,” Steve said grimly. “Go on inside. I’ll call Duke and make the arrangements for the cars to come.”  
  
“I’m all in favor of patrols. But we suspect there is a mole, remember? What if Duke accidentally sends the insider? What if the ones he sends mentions it to the insider? Then we’re all screwed,” Danny pointed out.  
  
“How many HPD were with the Camaro?” Steve asked.  
  
“I don’t know. A dozen? Why? How is that relevant?”  
  
“Word is going to spread that it happened,” Steve said, considering it. “The cartel is going to be suspicious if we don’t request protection. You said yourself they know where we live. What does it matter if the insider knows about the patrols?”  
  
“Maybe _we_ need to disappear,” Danny suggested.   
  
“I have never run from a fight. I don’t plan to start now,” Steve told him.  
  
Danny could see the change come over Steve, the silent, steady morphing until he was holding himself _at ease,_ SEAL in his expression, on his face, in the clinched muscles of his jaws. That Steve was refusing to meet Danny’s eyes meant he knew an argument was on the horizon and Steve would either refuse to engage or shut down completely.  
  
“Babe,” Danny said, a warm hand on his left arm. “Under normal circumstance there is no one, _no one,_ I’d rather have protecting me than you. But these circumstances took a left turn from normal when they destroyed the Camaro. They were already leaning that way when you were knifed. This gets us even closer to nowhere-near-normal. Even for us these are strange times and that’s saying something right there.”  
  
“I can protect us,” Steve said, the words clipped.  
  
“You can’t hold your gun with your right hand. If it had been your left arm sliced, you may well have shot me from your bunker. But you don’t shoot as well left handed.”  
  
“I’d never hurt you,” Steve said in a much softer tone.  
  
“Not intentionally. But you didn’t know it was me. You weren’t sure where you were. Tell me you can shoot as well left handed,” Danny challenged.  
  
“I can take out the targets.”  
  
“I don’t doubt that. I don’t. But I also know you aren’t supposed to be working. Dr. Brooks said you needed to take it easy until Monday. As usual, you aren’t listening. _And_ you cannot be expected to go all SEAL on the cartel if they come for us. Not under the current circumstances.”  
  
“Kono can take down any comers.”  
  
“I can with enough warning,” Danny agreed. “But we can’t trust HPD to guard the house. We know the cartel has multiple boats. They can come at us from land and from sea.”  
  
“I’m not running,” Steve said again.  
  
“You can’t risk all of our lives, including yours, either. This is the plan that makes the most sense. You know that. It’s not a weakness to admit you need help,” Danny said, an underlying note of pleading in his voice.  
  
Steve sighed, looking back toward his house. “Ask Chin and Kono to come out. If they agree with you, we’ll go to a safe house.”  
  
“That’s all I can ask,” Danny agreed, turning to cross the stretch of yard to return to the house.  
  
He quietly asked Chin and Kono to go out to talk to Steve, careful not to influence them in any way with his message.  
  
“Danno?” Grace called from the living room.  
  
“Yes, Monkey,” Danny said with a smile as he settled next to her.  
  
“What’s wrong?” Grace asked, huge brown eyes looking up at him. “I know something is wrong.”  
  
Danny nodded, kissing her head. “That’s because you are an exceptionally smart young lady.”  
  
“What happened?” Grace asked.  
  
“Some bad guys we are chasing stole the Camaro. They managed to destroy it before we could find them,” Danny explained. There was no lying to her, no pretending it hadn’t happened.  
  
“Why would they hurt our car?”  
  
“We think they are warning us.”  
  
“So you’ll stop chasing them?” Grace asked.  
  
“That’s what they want. But we aren’t going to stop,” Danny assured her.  
  
“You can’t stop. You are the good guys. Did you know they broke the Camaro when you came in Uncle Chin’s car to get me?”  
  
“We thought it had been stolen. Kono traced it and the HPD found it,” he explained.  
  
Grace considered that before nodding. “I’m getting hungry.”  
  
“Then we should probably find something to eat,” Danny suggested with a smile.  
  
“Can we order pizza? Uncle Chin and Aunt Kono are staying, right?”  
  
“We can. They are,” Danny agreed, looking over his shoulder as Kono, Chin, and Steve returned into the house. “Miss Grace has voted for pizza for dinner.”  
  
“That settles it,” Steve confirmed with a smile. If it wasn’t a real, authentic smile, it was good enough to ease some of Grace’s nervousness.  
  



	5. There Are No Black Helicopters

“What did Mrs. Edwards say? Was she angry you didn’t alert her sooner?” Dr. Yamamoto asked.

“She was angry but not to the degree either of us expected. She took Grace and Charlie to Florida. Disney World is one of the safest _and_ happiest places on Earth,” Steve said.

“Was it a concern that Grace was missing school for what appeared to be a holiday?”

“Her school is accustom to having the daughter of a high-powered business man and a member of Five-0. They don’t comment on the odd schedule it sometimes forces on Grace.”

“That’s reassuring,” Dr. Yamamoto confirmed.

“Extremely,” Steve said.

“I take it Chin and Kono agreed with Danny. About the safe house,” Dr. Yamamoto said.

“Yeah,” Steve said. “I still had my doubts.”

“A strategic retreat is not the same as running,” Dr. Yamamoto reminded him.

“That’s what Joe told me,” Steve said.

“Joe? That’s Commander White?”

“Danny called him. I was still resistant to the idea of turning tail and running to the safe house. Joe said I was being an idiot and it was the best place for all of us. He even offered to come from Montana to help,” Steve said.

“Did he?”

“No. But he sent Wade. Lieutenant Commander Wade Gutches,” Steve said.

“How did you feel about Commander Gutches being at the safe house?” Dr. Yamamoto asked.

“He didn’t stay the entire time. He was there when we arrived and remained for the first 24 hours. He brought us untraceable cell phones and radios with scrambled signals.”

“What about your houses?” Dr. Yamamoto asked.

“I called Sgt. Duke Lukela of HPD and requested all four of our residences have patrols assigned to them. We were hoping that they weren’t manned by the mole. But if the insider heard that patrols were assigned, that would put them off the scent of us at the safe house.”

“The safe house was safe?” Dr. Yamamoto asked, smiling at the silliness of the question. But Steve understand what he was asking.

“I called Governor Denning. He has access to three across the islands. We were given one that is, or _was_ , on the edge of the rainforest. High enough up that we could see approaching hostiles. Very defensible. Well equipped,” Steve said.

“It sounds to me like that was the best strategy,” Dr. Yamamoto prompted when Steve stopped, lost in his own thoughts.

“It was,” Steve agreed reluctantly. “Danny contacted his friend Toast who is better at subversive computer activities than Chin. Toast explained to Chin and Kono how to bounce the signal so the cartel couldn’t trace the IP connection back to the house. That way we could continue tracing ʻAkamu’s activities and whereabouts.”

“Did they find the information you needed to capture ʻAkamu?”

“Not while we were at the house. Other…concerns ended up taking precedence,” Steve said, as hard as it was to admit it.

“The dreams kept recurring,” Dr. Yamamoto said.

“Yeah,” Steve agreed. “I wasn’t really sleeping. Not as much as I should have. Danny tried to not nag me but I knew he was worried.”

“Which is understandable,” Dr. Yamamoto pointed out.

“I know,” Steve said quietly. “It wasn’t so bad until Tuesday night.”

“Tell me what happened,” Dr. Yamamoto requested.

~0~

“Come on, babe. You need to sleep,” Danny said.

The sun had been down for at least four hours when Danny peeked into Steve’s bedroom, finding it empty. He’d expected that but had been hopeful he was wrong. He made his careful way down the steps to find Steve prowling the barely lit downstairs. Steve had turned off all the lights, the only one left on was over the stove. With the way the kitchen was arranged, that light would be almost invisible from outside.

The near blackness of the first floor of the house made Steve look like an apparition in his black long sleeved tee shirt and black cargoes.

The four bedrooms were on the second story, giving the ground floor an almost 360 degree view of the surrounding area. The house had an open layout, the kitchen and dining room flowing seamlessly into the great room. Danny had remarked that it was a like being at a ski resort, the house feeling like a chalet in its coziness. There was even a gigantic fireplace at one end of the great room although they had all agreed they couldn’t imagine a time it would be needed.

The windows were bulletproof, providing protection while also letting the occupants spot approaching hostiles.

Danny stood in the center of the great room, watching helplessly as Steve checked each window, peering out into the inky blackness. How he would detect movement was beyond Danny. And if Steve weren’t on hyper-alert, he’d realize his efforts were fruitless.

“Go back to bed,” Steve said, not bothering to glance Danny’s way. He was staring out one of the windows, his body unnaturally still. Danny was sure he was breathing but that was the only movement he could be certain of.

“Not until you do,” Danny said, approaching him. “Babe.” There was a world of meaning in that one word. _Please stop this. Go back to bed. What can I do?  
_  
“I’m fine,” Steve said. Danny knew the words to be lies. Steve was not _fine_. He did not have a nodding acquaintance with _fine._ He was strung too tightly and couldn’t relax. Danny was almost certain he was running a fever, again, but as Steve adamantly refused to take his temperature, there was no way Danny could be sure. Danny suspected Steve had stopped taking the pain medication although he was pretty sure he’d seen Steve swallow the antibiotics.

“What can I do to help?” Danny finally asked.

“Leave me alone,” Steve replied in clipped words, moving to the next set of windows to glare out at the darkness from his new location.

“Can I get you some water? Or something to eat?” Danny asked as though Steve hadn’t spoken.

“You can leave me the hell alone,” Steve said, raising his voice.

“Babe,” Danny repeated, looking up at him. Danny knew Steve was licking his metaphorical wounds because he wasn’t being the big bad SEAL who was single-handedly able to protect his _ohana_. He was the one in need of protection and it galled him, ate him up inside. “We’re safe. No one knows where we are except Denning and Duke. You trust them, right?”

Steve turned his steel grey, hardened eyes to Danny, staring holes into him. “Go to bed.”

“That doesn’t answer my question,” Danny said gently. “It’s middle of the night. You haven’t slept more than four hours in the past two days. Combined. Please come upstairs with me.”

“You know how I feel about you giving me orders,” Steve ground out. Now that he was facing Danny, he could see the beginnings of new fever spots on Steve’s cheekbones, bones which had become more and more prominent over the last week. Along with not sleeping, Steve had basically stopped eating.

“I’m not giving you orders,” Danny tried, keeping his voice mild and calm. “I’m suggesting you take care of yourself so you can protect us.”

“I can’t do that asleep,” Steve informed him.

“You can’t do it in a coma, either.”

“You’re being…stupid,” Steve said.

“I could say the same about you,” Danny muttered as he went to the refrigerator.

“What are you doing? Close that,” Steve barked when the light illuminated the downstairs. “Are you trying to give away our location?”

Danny took out a cold bottle of water and closed the refrigerator door with a sigh. “Please drink this,” he requested, handing Steve the bottle with the cap off.

“This is open. How do I know it’s not contaminated?” Steve asked, staring at the bottle.

“I took off the lid, babe. I have it right here,” Danny said, showing him the white lid laying harmlessly on his palm. Steve finally accepted the water, drinking it all without breathing. Danny could only shake his head in dismay. “Have you been taking your antibiotics?”

“Affirmative,” Steve said, returning to stare out the window. He reached over on one of the tables for a pair of night vision goggles Danny hadn’t noticed.

“Babe,” Danny said in pleading. “How about this? I’ll take this watch and you catch 40 winks on the couch. I know I’m not a SEAL but I can watch for the approach of hostiles as well as you can.”

“Negative. Vigilance is our only defense.”

“I will be vigilant. I’ll even go get Chin so he can help me,” Danny bargained.

“Chin is in his rack already.”

“I know that,” Danny said in exasperation. He turned toward the staircase that would take him upstairs.

“Where are you going?” Steve demanded.

“To get Chin. You need to sleep. I’m hoping both of us will be able to persuade you that it’s safe to stand down for the next few hours.” Danny continued up the steps, knocking on the open door to Chin’s bedroom before crossing over to stand beside his bed.

“What’s wrong?” Chin asked, his voice heavy with sleep. His hair was standing up, his eyes clouded with the exhaustion they were all experiencing to various degrees.

“I can’t get Steve to sleep. He’s patrolling the downstairs. Staring out the windows like he’s an owl and can see approaching hostiles in the pitch black. He’s not eating, you know,” Danny said with a sigh, settling on the edge of Chin’s bed.

“I know,” Chin agreed, a light hand on Danny’s arm. “This isn’t your fault.”

“I feel like it is,” Danny admitted. “He won’t listen.”

“Hey,” Kono said as she shuffled into Chin’s room, brushing her hair out of her face. She was dressed like they were, in a tee shirt and shorts. Steve said it would make a fast get-away easier if they slept in something that could be worn out in the world. Rather than argue, they had all agreed to his requirements. “Steve’s up, huh?”

“Yeah,” Danny said. “I don’t know what to do. I’m pretty sure his fever is back. He isn’t drinking, sleeping, or eating.”

“Surely if all three of us go down, he’ll agree to sleep,” Kono said, worry on her face and in her voice.

“I tried,” Danny said, feeling like he’d failed his best friend.

“We know that, Danny,” Chin assured him, moving the sheet aside. “Come on. We’ll all go down, like Kono said. With all of us keeping watch, he’s bound to be able to sleep for a little while.”

“I hope you’re right,” Danny said, leading the way out of Chin’s room. They went into the living room, stopping in the center. The room was empty. “Steve?” Danny called quietly. He looked at Chin and Kono, all of them frowning. “Check upstairs,” he requested, Chin nodding and taking the steps two at a time.

Kono checked the downstairs bathroom, finding it empty. Chin soon returned, shaking his head.

“Dear God,” Danny said. The night vision goggles were gone as were Steve’s combat boots. “We have to find him.”

“Shoes, Danny. You need shoes,” Chin said. He held the door closed as Danny looked down at their feet.

“We all need shoes,” Kono confirmed, racing up the steps with the guys right behind her.

“Did you know he brought night vision goggles with him?” Danny asked when they were all downstairs again.

“No,” Kono said in dismay.

“He was using them right before I came up. I would have taken them but it never occurred to me that he’d go _out_ to find the enemy,” Danny said.

“Again, this isn’t your fault, brah,” Chin assured him.

“It isn’t,” Kono agreed. They were standing on the wide porch that surrounded the house on all sides, looking fruitlessly toward the rain forest 30 feet away. “Where do we start?”

“I have no idea,” Danny admitted. “Where would a SEAL go first?”

“We need to think like a SEAL,” Chin said, looking out over the jungle.

“We need a SEAL to think for us,” Danny corrected. He went back into the house, finding one of the phones. He felt bad making this call in the middle of the night but they were not equipped to find Steve in his current mind frame.

“Hello?” Wade said after the phone rang six times. His voice made it clear that he’d been sleeping until the phone woke him.

“Wade, it’s Danny.”

“Danny? What’s wrong?” Wade asked, more awake at the identity of the caller.

“We can’t find Steve. He’s gone. He’s on ultra-high alert and we don’t know where he is. We have no idea how to find him,” Danny said. All the words ran together in his need to explain as rapidly as possible.

“Slow down. Start over,” Wade requested. Danny could hear him moving around. Maybe he had some ultra-classified high tech way to pinpoint stray SEALs.

Danny explained about Steve not drinking, sleeping, or eating and that he was now out in the jungle with his night vision goggles. Plus it was reasonable to assume that Steve’s fever had returned.

“Oh good lord,” Wade said.

“Yeah. How do we find him?” Danny asked.

“I’ll be there in 25 minutes,” Wade said.

“Do you have night vision goggles?” Danny asked hopefully.

“Roger that. My recommendation is that you sit outside where he can see you. He needs to know that you are safe,” Wade said.

“Won’t he tell us we’re being stupid by exposing ourselves to the danger he’s out hunting?” Danny asked.

“He may. But he’ll have to come back to the house to tell you that,” Wade pointed out.

“We’ll be bait for him,” Danny said.

“Exactly.”

“How much field surgery do you know?” Danny asked. “There’s no telling what he may have done to himself.”

“His cast is still on,” Wade said. “He’ll be fine. He may trip over some fallen logs and some roots but he’s not going to stray too far from the house. He’ll keep it in sight at all times.”

“Okay,” Danny said. “Okay. We’ll sit outside and wait. Thank you.”

“No man left behind. Or outside,” Wade said before hanging up.

Danny repeated what Wade had said, going outside with Kono and Chin after making a pot of coffee. If they were going to be up all night, coffee was an absolute must.

They settled in three of the Adirondack chairs which faced the well hidden driveway. They decided it didn’t make much difference where they sat. Steve would be out either hunting the enemy, or watching them from a distance. They couldn’t decide which possibility concerned them more.

While they waited and drank the coffee, Kono told Danny of some of the wilder times she’d had back in the day on the surfing circuit. They made sure they kept their voices low but not so low that Steve couldn’t hear them. Maybe if he thought they were being especially stupid, he’d come tell them off. At least they hoped that’s what would happen.

About 25 minutes after Danny had hung up with him, Wade arrived in his black Jeep. He’d turned out the headlights for the last part of the trip up the driveway, his running lights enough for him to navigate the drive.

“Any sign?” Wade asked, taking off his backpack when he was on the porch with them.

“No,” Danny said. “We’ve been out here since you and I talked. We haven’t spotted him and he hasn’t come to tell us we’re being idiots.”

“All right,” Wade said with a brisk nod. He opened his backpack to take out two pair of night vision goggles. “We’re going out, two at a time. Danny and I will take the first mission. You two stay on the porch. You have your radios, right?”

They all showed him that they had their radios with them, hoping Steve did as well. But it was hard to know if he’d taken his or not. They didn’t see it inside but that didn’t mean he hadn’t stashed it somewhere.

“We’ll circle the property. I’ll go clockwise. Danny will go counter. If we don’t find him, we’ll widen the search grid. But I suspect he’s somewhere he can see the house,” Wade said.

“Please find him,” Kono said. She looked lost, worried, near to tears. Danny could understand. He was sharing all those same emotions. “And _please_ be careful.”

“We will,” Danny assured her. “I need to run up for jeans.”

Wade nodded, talking quietly to Kono and Chin as they waited. It was only a couple of minutes later than Danny returned in his jeans and the hiking boots Steve insisted he bring with him.

“Ready,” Danny said, accepting the goggles. They were bulky and heavy and turned everything a slightly sickening shade of green but there was no doubt that they were effective.

“Stay within sight of the house,” Wade instructed as they went down the steps to the yard. “He’ll be where he can see it.”

“Right,” Danny said, entering the edge of the forest with Wade. They were 10 feet in when Wade stopped.

“We’ll begin here,” Wade said. “Go slow. And listen out for him.”

“Right,” Danny repeated. “Anything that doesn’t sound like a wild boar or a snake or an eagle coming to carry me off.”

“You’re being melodramatic. You know that, right?” Wade said, his words underlined with humor. And possible a little snark.

“Whatever,” Danny said, waving him off. “I’ll see you soon.”

“Roger that,” Wade acknowledged, going to the right as Danny went to the left. Approximately ten minutes later, they met up, 180 degrees from where they had started. Neither had seen any sign of Steve, Danny worried about the lack of evidence to indicate that he was still in the surrounding woods. When they met up at the beginning point, Danny tried to take the second circuit but Chin and Kono convinced him that his presence on the porch was more important than being in the woods.

Chin and Kono had no luck finding him either. They saw no signs that he was anywhere around the house. It was as though he’d disappeared into thin air.

“Good job with the training, brah,” Chin said to Wade, an unusual amount of sarcasm in his words. Even _his_ agitation was showing through.

“We don’t train to vanish from our friends,” Wade said, speaking as much to himself as to them. “Once the sun is up, we’re all going to look. He isn’t out of sight of the house. I’d stake my reputation on it.”

“I can’t wait until sunrise,” Danny said, pacing the width of the porch. “He could be hurt. Bleeding to death. Being eaten by a boar. We can’t just sit here and let that happen.”

“It will be sun-up in 90 minutes,” Kono said soothingly. “We don’t want you to get hurt trying to save the Boss.”

“I’m fine. He’s the one with the surgically repaired arm. He’s the one with the fever.”

“All right,” Wade finally conceded. “We’ll try one more time. If we don’t find him, we’re standing down until sunrise. Deal?”

Danny looked like he wanted to argue, not just because it was his most natural form of communication. But because he couldn’t stand the idea of Steve being alone in the rain forest possibly hurt, injured, fevered, delirious. It tore at his heart and he couldn’t just stand by while Steve was missing.

“Danny,” Chin said, sympathy in his voice. “You know Wade’s right. You getting hurt isn’t going to help us find Steve.”

“Okay,” Danny said, taking a deep breath. “One more time then we’ll wait until sunrise.”

“Let’s move,” Wade said, leading him back into the trees. They went 15 feet in, the house nearly hidden but still just visible that deep. They followed the same pattern, Danny going counter clockwise as Wade went clockwise. They met in the middle, neither having anything to report.

Danny reluctantly climbed the steps up to the porch behind Wade, sitting in one of the chairs, dejection and worry weighing him down. His shoulders were slumped, the hand racking through his fly-away hair trembling.

“Catch 40 winks,” Wade said, pointing at the three of them and into the house. “I’ll stand watch until full sunup.”

As much as they wanted to argue, they did as he suggested. Danny and Chin curled up on the couch, Kono a tiny ball on one of the recliners. They talked very quietly, Chin and Kono trying to reduce the amount of tension on Danny’s face and in his body. He appreciated their efforts but until they found Steve, none of them would really be able to rest.

It was close to an hour later that Wade roused them, passing out cups of fresh coffee.

“No signs of him, huh?” Danny had to ask.

“None,” Wade confirmed. “Once you’ve eaten, we’ll all go out. We’re going to call for him. Our voices may be enough to bring him out of hiding.”

“I hope you’re right,” Kono said, shaking her head at the stubbornness of one Steven J. McGarrett.

Danny had been cooking since they arrived. It wasn’t that Chin, Kono and Steve weren’t willing to be in charge of the kitchen. But Danny was accustom to feeding vast numbers of people, having grown up in a house overrun with kids, neighbors, aunts, uncles, cousins. He could make scrambled eggs that would bring a grown man to tears.

They had just finished eating their eggs when the sound of the front door opening caused them to go instantly on high alert. Wade pulled his gun out of the back of his cargoes, aiming it directly at the intruder’s head. Except the intruder was Steve, shoulders slumped in exhaustion, a tear in the front of his tee shirt, his hair filled with leaves and twigs and God only knew what else.

“Where the fuck have you been?” Danny demanded, going over to him and pulling him bodily to the couch. “Do you have any idea how god damn worried I…we were? What the ever loving hell, McGarrett? What is wrong with that cobweb filled brain of yours? If you ever, ever do anything this stupid again, I will personally hog tie you to your bed until you swear on my daughter’s brown pig tails that you will not be such a moron. How dare you do this to us? What were you thinking?”

Danny had plenty more to say but the look on Steve’s face abruptly stopped him. Steve looked lost, confused, apologetic. Even angry?

“Steve,” Kono said, a light hand on his shoulder. He looked up at her, his expression sorrowful and exhausted. “Are you okay?”

“I think so,” Steve said softly. His tongue was sticking to the roof of his mouth and he accepted the bottle of water Chin pressed into his unresisting hand.

“What were you thinking?” Wade asked firmly but with much more calm than Danny had managed.

“I was on patrol, sir,” Steve told him as though it was obvious. Because Wade would have given him that assignment. “I was watching for the black helicopters.”

“Black helicopters?” Danny repeated, studying him closely. “There are no black helicopters.”

“They’re real. I know you don’t believe it but they exist,” Steve told him, the need to convince him in the underlying stern tone of Steve’s voice.

“I don’t doubt they exist,” Danny told him. “But there aren’t any here.”

“There are,” Steve insisted. “I heard them. I needed to be certain they did not detect our location.”

Danny studied Steve, the tightness in his jaw, the deep furrow in his brow. “Do you know where you are, babe?” Danny finally asked, sitting next to Steve. He put a cool palm on Steve’s cheek, not surprised that it was burning hot beneath his hand.

“Mmm…not precisely. I do know the helicopters were circling,” Steve insisted.

“Do you know who I am?” Danny asked, praying silently for an affirmative.

“Danno,” Steve said with certainty. “Kono. Chin. Wade.”

“Good,” Danny said with a nod.

“Where’s Grace? Isn’t she here?” Steve asked, looking around as though to find her.

“No babe. She’s with Rachel. We don’t have her right now,” Danny said gently. “Did you hurt yourself while you were out being a crazy man?”

“What?” Steve said, trying to focus on Danny.

“While you were on patrol. Did you sustain any injuries which require medical attention?” Wade said firmly enough that Steve would answer.

“No sir. I am not injured. Did you hear the choppers?” Steve asked Wade.

“No. I haven’t heard or seen them,” Wade said.

“They were here, sir,” Steve said firmly. He turned his intense focus on Danny when he spoke quietly to him.

“What happened here?” Danny asked, touching the rip in Steve’s tee shirt.

“Tree branch,” Steve said with a shrug.

“Did it cut you?” Danny asked, lifting Steve’s shirt despite his efforts to keep it in place.

“No. Stop. I’m fine.”

“You are miles and miles from fine, my friend,” Danny told him. “Let’s get you upstairs and into the shower.”

Steve frowned at that, looking at the worried eyes watching him. “Who is on patrol?”

“We are,” Kono said, straightening. “We were about to resume watch when you arrived.”

Steve nodded at that. “Do not engage the hostiles. Report back to us,” he instructed. They nodded before leaving to stand watch on the porch. “Is there more water?”

“Of course,” Danny said, standing and pulling Steve up. He was swaying on his feet, Danny the only thing keeping him upright. Steve accepted the water from Wade with a nod. “Come on, big guy. It’s a shower and bed for you.”

“I have to take my watch,” Steve tried. “They won’t know how to neutralize the threat.”

“You stood watch all night. And Wade can assist them with the threats,” Danny reminded him. “It’s time for you to stand down. You can’t resume watch until after you sleep.”

Steve looked over at Wade who confirmed Danny’s words. That seemed to be enough for Steve to allow Danny to help him up the stairs.

“Danny?” Steve said softly when he was sitting on the toilet lid. Danny was pulling his clothes off for him, Steve absent from the process. At least he wasn’t resisting Danny’s efforts to undress him.

“Yeah babe?”

“Where are we?” Steve asked. “We aren’t in Korea, are we?”

“We’re in the safe house. Governor Denning arranged it for us,” Danny said.

“The safe house,” Steve repeated, licking his dry and cracked lips as he considered the words. “The cartel.”

“Exactly,” Danny said, kneeling in front of him to unlace his combat boots. He gently removed them, peeling off Steve’s socks as well. He did a cursory check of Steve’s feet, not finding any serious damage. “Okay, stand up for me,” Danny instructed, pulling him up by his left hand. Once Steve was standing, Danny opened his cargo pants, sliding them down his legs. He took down his briefs next, removing himself mentally and refusing to consider the number of times he’d wished he could do this to Steve. “You still with me?” Danny asked gently, looking up at Steve’s exhausted face.

“Uh huh,” Steve said with a nod. “Cast?”

“I have the plastic right here,” Danny assured him, covering Steve’s cast with it. He turned on the shower, keeping it warm but not overly hot. Steve’s fever had surely returned so a hot shower was not in his best interest. “Now. Can you shower by yourself?”

“Mmm…not sure,” Steve admitted, looking at the running shower. “Come with?”

Danny sighed but quickly removed his clothes. Again, this was something he’d imagined more times than he was comfortable admitting but never under these particular circumstances. This was not how he had thought their first shower would take place, if there was ever to be a first shower. He’d about given up hope of their relationship moving past friends to something much more.

“Danny?” Steve said softly. Danny realized he’d drifted off mentally, leaving Steve more confused. Steve touched Danny’s chest, making sure he was still there.

“I’m sorry,” Danny said, gently guiding him into the shower. “I guess I drifted.”

“Are you mad at me?” Steve asked as he managed to maneuver his tired body under the water.

“Of course not. Why would you think that?” Danny asked, picking up the soap and trying to ignore the miles and miles of tanned, toned, muscled _Steve_ before him.

“You aren’t yelling at me,” Steve said quietly. “You always yell at me. Except when you don’t.”

“I see,” Danny said with a sad smile. “You miss the sounds of my dulcet tones filling your ears.”

“Uh huh,” Steve said, looking down at Danny’s hand holding the washcloth he was using to scrub Steve. “That feels nice.”

“You know what else feels nice?” Danny asked, trying for a reassuring rant. “Knowing where you are. Knowing you are safe. Do you have any idea how worried we were when we couldn’t find you? What if you had been injured? Bitten by a snake? Eaten by a cobra? What then, huh? I’d have to tell Grace how stupid you were. When we were completely safe _inside_ the house. Inside, Steven. Where you should have been all night.”

“There are no snakes here. And I had to scout for the enemy. I had to protect you,” Steve said automatically.

“From what? From invisible aliens? Imaginary black helicopters? How was it safer for you to be outside where we had to go and try to find you? You should have been in with us, like a civilized human being. Like Chin and Kono,” Danny said. He gently turned Steve so he could wash his back, not lingering on Steve’s beautiful ass as much as he wanted to.

“I’m sorry,” Steve muttered.

“Where were you? Did you see us looking for you? Did you hear us searching for your invisible SEAL ass?”

“My ass isn’t invisible,” Steve said, turning his head to look down at Danny.

“As I am all too aware,” Danny confirmed. “Where were you?”

“In the tree,” Steve finally admitted.

“In the tree,” Danny said, shaking his head. “Lean down so I can wash your hair. Why didn’t you tell us where you were? You had to have known we were hunting for you. We were worried. Did that ever occur to you?”

“It’s my responsibility to protect you, to keep you safe,” Steve said as though that was all that needed to be said.

The words tore at Danny’s heart. He knew what they meant: _This is my fault. I’ve failed you. I have to make up for what I’ve done and what I haven’t done. I’m going to lose you too and I can’t stand the idea of it._

__“We were safe, babe. We _are_ safe. You don’t have to protect us,” Danny told him gently.

“I do,” Steve said. “It’s my job. Neutralize the enemy.”

“No. It’s all of our jobs. I know we aren’t trained killers but we are police officers. We aren’t completely unprepared to defend ourselves.”

Steve didn’t respond to Danny’s words. In truth, there was nothing he could say to refute them.

When Steve’s hair was cleaned and rinsed, Danny helped him out of the shower and removed the plastic wrap from his cast. He watched closely to make certain Steve could manage to dry himself. Danny was dry by the time Steve was finished, leading him into Steve’s bedroom and helping him into clean shorts and a tee shirt.

Danny dressed quickly and then settled Steve in the bed.

“Stay,” Steve said very quietly.

“Yes. All right,” Danny had to agree. There was no way he could refuse that quiet, heartfelt request. He climbed into bed beside Steve, laying snug up against him so Steve could feel the comfort of his presence. He thought being with Steve would help keep him in place, provide an anchor in the storming sea that was Steve’s current thought processes.

When Steve moved closer to Danny, Danny tugged and directed until Steve was laying on his left side, his back to Danny. Danny fit his body to the taller one, as much of their skin in contact as Danny could manage. He draped his arm over Steve’s warm body, careful not to jostle Steve’s cast.

Steve wasn’t on highest alert but neither was he relaxed, not yet. Danny wondered what he could do to help. Maybe talking was the answer, as it had been in the shower. It would also help Danny to not think about how much he wished they were spooning naked, or doing even more interesting things naked. But that way led to unfulfilled desires, ones he could not afford to indulge in while Steve was still so vulnerable.

“Do you want me to tell you one of Grace’s favorite bedtime stories?” Danny asked quietly.

“No,” Steve whispered. “No. I want to tell you something. Something I’ve been keeping secret.”

“Babe, you don’t have any secrets from me except those you are sworn to take to your grave,” Danny assured him.

“I do. I should have told you this a long time ago,” Steve said quietly.

“What’s that?” Danny asked, hugging his closer.

“I’m in love with you,” Steve said, laying completely still after the words had left his mouth, even his breathing stopping.

“Oh, babe. I do know that,” Danny assured him.

“No. You don’t,” Steve said, making it sound like a question.

“Of course I do,” Danny said. “I’ve known for a long time.”

“Why didn’t you say?” Steve asked softly.

“Because you had to get there on your own. If I’d had admitted it, then you might have felt obligated to reciprocate.”

“If you admitted what? That you knew?” Steve asked.

“No, you goof. That I love you too,” Danny said, kissing Steve’s shoulder. “I’ve probably been in love with you since I stopped hating you.”

“You never hated me. You just wanted to,” Steve told him firmly.

“No, for while those first few days, I really and truly did hate you. Once I stopped wanting to kill you, I wanted to make love to you. But I knew I had to wait for you to come to it on your own.”

“It wasted a lot of time,” Steve said, yawning but trying to hide the fact.

“I don’t see it as wasted time. I see it as a chance for us to be absolutely sure,” Danny said.

“And you are?”

“Am I what?”

“Absolutely sure?” Steve asked, his voice fading as sleep began to win out over talking.

“I am 100% certain,” Danny assured him. “Now go to sleep.”

“You too,” Steve whispered, asleep in the safety of Danny’s arms and love.  



	6. Azúcar: Producto de Brasil

“You were finally able to admit how you felt,” Dr. Yamamoto said. It sounded like approval but Steve wasn’t entirely certain that the doctor did approve. But then it shouldn’t have mattered what he thought. Not really.  
  
“I didn’t remember saying it,” Steve finally confessed to him. “When I woke up, I couldn’t understand why Danny was in bed with me.”  
  
“Was Danny confused by that?”  
  
“I don’t think so. I didn’t remember hiding in the trees or watching for the helicopters either. Those first few days in the safe house are a blur. I was really surprised to find Wade there.”  
  
“But things got better,” Dr. Yamamoto prompted.  
  
“I got better,” Steve confirmed. “Danny made me stay in bed 24 straight hours. I wanted to fight him over it but I was too… tired to do anything but sleep and eat.”  
  
“Did Danny stay?”  
  
“He was in my room. Not in bed with me. He said he had to be there to make sure I stayed put.”  
  
“He was right, wasn’t he?”  
  
Steve shrugged at that. He wasn’t anxious to admit that if Danny hadn’t been standing guard, he would have left the bed and resumed watch. Things had gotten clearer to him – he knew where he was and why they were all there. But he still felt responsible for watching out for them, for scouting for the enemy. Danny and Wade convinced him that it wasn’t necessary for any of them to actively stand guard. The placement of the house made it almost impossible for anyone to approach without being detected.  
  
“There’s no shame in having to rest and recover,” Dr. Yamamoto reminded him, drawing Steve’s attention back to the present.   
  
“I know,” Steve snapped, taking a breath and repeating it in a more even tone. “I know I needed to rest.”  
  
“Were they still investigating the cartel as you recovered?” the doctor asked, sensing a change in topic would ease Steve’s way a little.  
  
“Chin and Kono found a lead to the cartel and were trying to coordinate with Duke. They wanted officers to go to the harbor where most of the cartel boats were anchored. But it was hard for Duke to find enough officers he was sure he could absolutely trust.”  
  
“Is that when they left?” Dr. Yamamoto asked.  
  
“Yes. I didn’t want them to go, especially without me. But Duke was worried about the investigation being compromised. We agreed they would go to town in Chin’s car and Duke would pick them up from the designated area. That would make tracking them harder.”  
  
“Didn’t work out quite that way, did it?” Dr. Yamamoto said, not really prompting Steve as much as filling in the silence that descended.  
  
“No. It’s a wonder we weren’t all killed,” Steve said.  
  
“How did you feel when they left without you?”  
  
“I didn’t like it but I knew they were right. Wade stayed with me. He took the time alone to tell me he thought I was experiencing… you know,” Steve said with a dismissive wave of his hand, a gesture he was sure he had inherited from Danny.  
  
“That you were displaying symptoms of PTSD,” Dr. Yamamoto said, watching closely for Steve’s reaction. There wasn’t much of one.  
  
“I told him he was wrong. Even when he pointed out the evidence, like the black helicopters and digging the bunker. Since I didn’t remember most of the things he was talking about, it took him some time to actually convince me my behavior had been…out of the ordinary. Dangerous even.”  
  
“I can understand why you would resist hearing what he was saying,” Dr. Yamamoto concurred. “Those are not easy things to hear about yourself, especially when you don’t have the memory of those activities. How did he convince you?”  
  
“The diabetes analogy,” Steve admitted. “If he suspected I had diabetes, I wouldn’t tell him it wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle. I’d seek medical help for it. Thinking we were under attack was a clear sign that my mental wiring had short circuited. Even I couldn’t deny it at that point. When he was telling me what I had done, I would have sworn those were all dreams. What he was saying was as real to me as being on the ship. I had a vague idea of what he was describing but not so much that I could fill in any of the missing details.”  
  
“Were you concerned? That he thought you were suffering PSTD?” Dr. Yamamoto asked. He waited as Steve gave the questions the consideration they were due.  
  
“I wasn’t worried for myself, not really. I was worried I’d hurt Danny or Kono or Chin. But as Wade pointed out, I always knew they were friendlies. I promised I’d talk to Dr. Brooks as soon as it was safe to return home.”  
  
“Just like that?” Dr. Yamamoto asked, some skepticism apparent in his tone.  
  
“Wade can be very effective. He can also threaten me,” Steve admitted.  
  
“That does make a difference,” the doctor confirmed.   
  
“Yeah,” Steve agreed. “I guess he shouldn’t have had to resort to threats.”  
  
“It’s understandable,” Dr. Yamamoto assured him. “It’s never an easy thing to admit that our minds or bodies are not acting the way we need them to.”  
  
“It sucks,” Steve said adamantly.  
  
“Very much so,” the doctor agreed. “What happened when they got to the harbor?”  
  
~0~  
  
Duke met Danny, Kono, and Chin at the pick-up area, the only person entrusted with that location. It was secluded but public enough that they could be certain they weren’t being followed.  
  
Duke took them in his cruiser down to the harbor. It was mostly deserted, in a less heavily traveled part of town. The decaying buildings around the harbor prevented anyone from seeing the boats from the street. And some of the docks were in between the warehouses, providing cover for less than legal activities.  
  
“These boats,” Duke said when they were standing on the docks, pointing at the five large boats. Four of them appeared to be fishing boats with large cargo holds, the last built for speed. “They are all registered to Lae’ula, reputed to be one of ‘Akuma’s lieutenants.”  
  
“How many officers are down here?” Danny asked, not seeing any black and whites except Duke’s.  
  
“I have two more to close off the area in addition to the one we passed. Those two are the only officers who know you are down here. None of them know what I’m investigating,” Duke said, shaking his head. “This is unfortunate, that we can’t trust our own brothers.”  
  
“ _Someone_ told the cartel that we were investigating their activities,” Chin said, no less angry for the betrayal.   
  
“I spoke to the Governor. In his office,” Duke hastened to add. “He called the Coast Guard. They’re sending a patrol.”  
  
“Why aren’t they here?” Danny asked, shading his eyes as he looked out over the blue water that had little traffic on it.  
  
“I went to see him as soon as Kono called me,” Duke explained. “I arranged the traffic blocks. He called the Coast Guard. They’ll be here shortly.”  
  
Danny nodded curtly at that. “I’m sorry.”  
  
“You don’t need to apologize, Danny,” Duke assured him. “How is Steve doing?”  
  
“It’s hard to say,” Chin said. “He’s fine. Then he starts telling us there are black helicopters closing in on the house.”  
  
“He hardly sleeps and he hasn’t been eating,” Kono added.  
  
“He doesn’t listen to you?” Duke asked Danny.  
  
“Sometimes. When he’s not in warrior mode. Wade Gutches is at the house. That’s helping,” Danny said.  
  
“Danny’s wearing himself out worrying about Steve,” Kono confided to Duke in sympathy.  
  
“I’m fine,” Danny said, waving it off. But they saw the truth, that Danny was troubled by Steve’s mental and physical state.   
  
He had not told them about his conversation with Steve, a conversation Steve could not recall. He doubted he’d ever tell the cousins what had been said in bed between the two of them. He did wonder if he’d tell Steve. He believed the words when Steve said them and believed them still. Just because Steve didn’t remember saying them didn’t mean they weren’t true.   
  
Maybe he was setting himself up for heartbreak, choosing to believe. It wasn’t the first time he’d have gotten hurt by following his heart instead of his head. But he wasn’t going to change who he was. And he was the person in love with Steve, the one who knew Steve felt the same.  
  
“Danny,” Chin said sharply.  
  
Danny looked over at him with a frown. Why was Chin being so loud? Chin never raised his voice. “Huh?”  
  
“You were a million miles away,” Chin said.  
  
“You weren’t seeing black helicopters, were you?” Kono asked. If it was a joke, it fell flat. Danny didn’t think she was kidding.  
  
“No. I drifted off. No helicopters of any color, description, or affiliation,” Danny assured them. “What were you asking me?”  
  
“Not asking, _brah_. Telling.” Chin pointed out over the water at the approach of a Coast Guard patrol boat. It slowed as it got to the dock, two of the crew jumping off to secure it. The Captain left the boat to greet the members of Five-0.  
  
“Captain Stoddard,” he said with a crisp salute.  
  
The others introduced themselves, the Captain looking over their shoulders. “I expected Lieutenant Commander McGarrett to be present.”  
  
“He’s currently…unavailable,” Danny said. “He is appraised of all of our actions.”  
  
“Very good,” Captain Stoddard said. “What do we have here?”   
  
Duke explained about the boats and that they needed to be towed to a secure location. HPD didn’t have boats adequate to the task which is why the Governor had called the Coast Guard.  
  
“Are we looking for anything specific?” Captain Stoddard asked, glancing at the boats gently bobbing in time with the waves.  
  
“We don’t need the boats investigated,” Danny clarified. “We’ll have our people go over them. We need you to secure them.”  
  
“I see,” the Captain said. “They are evidence.”  
  
“Yes,” Chin confirmed. “We’ll send our CSI team to go over them once you have them in our  secure location.”  
  
“Roger that,” Stoddard said, looking down at the five boats with a measuring eye. “We can tow two of them now. I’ll send a larger ship to collect the other three.”  
  
“We’ll need a couple of your men to stand guard until you return,” Duke told him.  
  
“While that request poses no problem, I am unclear as to why this isn’t strictly an HPD matter,” Stoddard said. It wasn’t a question but he was certainly requesting additional information.  
  
“We need this investigation treated with the utmost in confidentiality,” Danny said, not pleased at having to explain to anyone. “There’s nothing else we can tell you at this time.”  
  
“I see,” Stoddard said, glancing from Danny to Duke before nodding crisply. “Jones, McMahon. You’re to remain here. A second boat will be dispatched for these remaining vessels. Bryant, Humphries, secure these boats to ours.”  
  
The sailors did as they were told quickly and efficiently. It wasn’t long before Stoddard was leaving the docks with the two boats trailing behind his.  
  
“All right,” Danny said, looking at Chin, Kono, and Duke. “Duke and I will check these buildings. Chin and Kono, you take those two.”  
  
They all nodded, making certain their radios were functioning properly before dispersing to investigate their assigned areas. Duke and Danny entered the decaying warehouse closest to the dock, ample light coming through the cracks in the ceiling and walls.  
  
“Hard to imagine they used this for any type of storage,” Duke said, following Danny deeper into the cavernous building.  
  
“Chin said he thought it was a distribution area,” Danny said. “They had to have moved everything out of the main warehouse before we got there.”  
  
“We still haven’t found any sign of them,” Duke said in frustration. “I haven’t shared any of the information you’ve provided me. I cannot see how the cartel still knows what’s happening.”  
  
“Uh…guys,” Kono’s voice said into their ears.  
  
“What do you have?” Danny asked, looking around the empty, deserted warehouse.  
  
“You better come,” Kono said, her voice tight.  
  
“Are you okay?” Danny asked as they headed for the door. “Is Chin okay?”  
  
“I’m fine,” Chin answered for himself.   
  
“Me too,” Kono said. “But…yeah.”  
  
Danny thought she sounded on the verge of losing her cool. That was never a good sign. Kono was as tough as they came and if there was something upsetting her in the next warehouse, it was very bad indeed.  
  
Danny and Duke entered the smaller building, the entire left wall lined with barrels, all with **Azúcar: Producto de Brasil.** “I seriously doubt these contained sugar,” Danny said as they went toward the back wall where there was a door standing ajar.  
  
“Cocaine is much more likely,” Duke agreed, following Danny into the office where Kono and Chin were waiting. Three of the walls in the office held maps, the fourth wall all windows looking out over the dock where the Coast Guard sailors stood watch over the boats.  
  
The first map was of all of the Hawaiian islands, red circles placed intermittently on the coasts and in the interior.  
  
“What are these?” Danny asked, studying the huge map.  
  
“Coast Guard stations and private landing strips,” Duke said, pointing at them.  
  
“Oh great,” Danny said, studying the next map. It was an aerial view of Oahu, four red circles on it. Danny didn’t have to ask what those circles represented. “Our houses,” he said grimly.  
  
“That’s not the worst of it,” Kono said, gesturing to a wall of photos behind her.   
  
There were four rows of four photos each. The first set was of Kono: mowing her yard, putting away her lawn mower, watering her flowers, opening her back door. The second row was of Chin: selecting fruit at the farmers’ market, paying for his purchases, getting on his motorcycle, and opening his back door. The third was Danny: at the dry cleaners, entering the Camaro, leaving the Camaro, getting ready to enter his house. And the fourth was of Steve: leaving the ocean, drying off, taking a drink of water, entering his house through his back door.  
  
“These are all…taken from inside our houses,” Danny said in stunned disbelief. It was horrifying already that the pictures had been taken. But the camera was facing them as they entered their houses.  
  
“We think the cameras are embedded beside our doors,” Chin said. “The ones of us at our doors are waist high.”  
  
Danny bent to take a closer look, nodding in agreement. “We wouldn’t notice a tiny camera placed there.”  
  
“Clearly none of us did,” Kono agreed.  
  
“But why take these? And why put them up here?” Danny asked, looking again at the pictures.   
  
“We think they are warnings?” Kono said. “We know they know where we live. We figured they were following us. This is proof of that.”  
  
“When was the last time you mowed, Kono? Do you know when this was?” Duke asked.  
  
“A few days before we raided the warehouse. When Steve got knifed,” Kono said, looking at her pictures.  
  
“Yeah, that’s when I went to the farmers’ market,” Chin agreed.  
  
“So we were supposed to find these?” Danny asked, frowning again at them.  
  
“They haven’t been here very long,” Duke said. “These maps have faded in the sun. The photos haven’t.”  
  
“They may have put them up after we left our houses,” Danny said. “But to what purpose?”  
  
“Like Kono said,” Chin said. “A warning.” He returned to his study of the map with the Coast Guard stations, pointing at a dock that was otherwise unmarked. “There is no station here, is there, Duke?”  
  
Duke looked closely at the map, shaking his head. “Not there. There’s one here and one here,” he said, pointing at two other stations. The circle was in between the two but there was no indication of a station at that location.  
  
“This is where we are,” Chin said, pointing at the circled harbor where they were standing. “Do you think this is where their other warehouse is?”  
  
“Why wouldn’t they take down the maps?” Kono asked. “If this is where they are, why would they leave this here for us to find?”  
  
“Because those pictures,” Danny said, pointing at ones of Five-0, “are meant to warn us off. Or they think we won’t notice that there isn’t a Coast Guard station at this circle.”  
  
“We need to go see what’s in that warehouse,” Duke said, voicing the thoughts they were all having.  
  
“Yes we do,” Danny agreed.  
  
“What will we do for back-up?” Chin asked reasonably.  
  
“We’ll assess the situation. If it appears to be active, we’ll request assistance. Even if the mole hears, it will be too late for them to do anything other than warn the cartel members,” Danny said. “Kono, you brought your computer, right?”  
  
“It’s in Duke’s car,” Kono agreed.  
  
“Okay. On our way, we’ll see if you can find out who the warehouses are registered to,” Danny said. “We aren’t going to tell anyone where we’re going.”  
  
“Agreed,” Chin said.  
  
They left the office untouched, hoping the cartel wouldn’t know they had been there. They returned to the police cruiser, keeping as much in the shadows as possible in case they were being followed. Duke drove out of the harbor, not telling any of the officers where they were going.  
  
Kono opened her laptop, typing in the address of the circled warehouse. It took some digging and some backtracking but she finally found that it was being leased by Lae’ula.  
  
“That pretty much answers whether or not it’s a base of operation,” Danny said, looking over the backseat at Kono. They were two minutes from the warehouse, Duke checking the mirrors to make certain they weren’t being tailed.  
  
By the time they arrived a block from the address, they all had on their TAC vests, Chin’s shotgun at the ready. Duke pulled into an alleyway that would help disguise their presence.  
  
“All right,” Danny said as they stood low behind the squad car. “Duke and I will go toward the front. Chin and Kono, you will go behind the neighboring warehouse and see if you can get an angle on the targets. Assume all personnel are hostiles.”  
  
They nodded in agreement, Chin and Kono going out first and turning left. Duke and Danny turned right, keeping low and trying to be inconspicuous. As they approached the front gate of the warehouse, it was clear that it was still active. There were four heavily armed Hawaiians standing just inside the gate, security cameras trained on them and the entryway.  
  
“We have four hostiles,” Danny reported quietly. “Repeat, four hostiles.”  
  
“We’re beside the building,” Chin answered in a low voice. “We see no hostiles. Kono is checking a window.”   
  
There was a pause before Kono reported in. “I saw three, maybe four hostiles. None appear to be ‘Akamu or Lae’ula. All are heavily armed.”  
  
“Roger that,” Danny said, looking at Duke. “Can you take the two on the right?”  
  
“I can,” Duke agreed.   
  
“I’ve got the two on the left. Aim for the cameras when your men are down.”  
  
“Roger,” Duke said.  
  
“Chin, Kono, maintain position until you hear our gunfire. Once we’re secured the front, breech the warehouse. We will follow as quickly as possible.”  
  
“Roger that,” they confirmed.  
  
Duke and Danny crept a little closer, Danny nodding at Duke. They incapacitated their men, all four of them laying bleeding on the ground. After they shot out the cameras trained on the front entrance, Danny and Duke checked the four guards. The were bleeding heavily but were still alive. Danny and Duke kicked away their guns before proceeding toward the warehouse. They could hear Kono and Chin shooting, the return fire not as numerous.  
  
Danny and Duke kicked open the front door, demanding that the three large men with guns lay them down. Chin and Kono had taken cover behind a stack of barrels, the inside guards trying to find them. But they did as they were told, throwing down their guns and going to their knees.  
  
“Who else is here?” Danny demanded as the guards were cuffed. He stood over them, his gun pointed at the first. “Don’t make me ask you again.”  
  
The guard looked up at him with disdain. “No one, _haole_. Just us.”  
  
Danny hit him with the butt of his gun causing him to crash to the ground, stunned. “You. Who else is here?”   
  
“In the office,” the second thug said, nodding with his head toward the back of the warehouse where there was a tall set of stairs.  
  
“How many?” Chin asked.  
  
“Three.”  
  
“Are ‘Akamu or Lae’ula here?” Chin asked.  
  
“They were,” the thug said. “They left 30 minutes ago.”  
  
“Thirty minutes,” Danny said to the others. “Isn’t that when we left to come here?”  
  
“We left about twenty minutes ago,” Chin confirmed.  
  
“Great. They knew we were coming here next,” Danny said.  
  
“How?” Kono demanded down to the three thugs. “How did you know we were coming?”  
  
“If we knew, don’t you think we’d have left too?” thug #2 said. “We ain’t messin’ with Five-0.”  
  
“What did ‘Akamu and Lae’ula say when they left?” Chin demanded.  
  
“Nothin’. They left. That’s all,” thug #3 said.  
  
“So who’s in the office?” Duke asked.  
  
“Huphau and two other dudes we don’t know,” thug #1 said after he’d straightened up off the floor.  
  
“Haphau? Moony Haphau?” Duke asked.  
  
“Yeah.”  
  
“What?” Danny said to Duke. “Why the hell is he still not in custody?”  
  
“As far as I know, he is,” Duke said. “Let’s go see if we can find out why he’s here.”  
  
“Chin, you watch these. We’ll go find Haphau,” Danny said.  
  
“Roger that,” Chin said, standing over the three cartel members with a fierce look on his face.   
  
Danny, Kono, and Duke approached the tall metal stairway staying as close to the wall as possible. They saw no activity through the milky windows of the office and heard no sounds coming from it. It was possible that shooting out the cameras had been enough to alert them that they had unwanted company.  
  
They crept up the metal stairs, being careful to do it as quietly as possible. When they reached the top, they found the door to the office open, providing a clear view that anyone who had been there had already left. Duke, Danny, and Kono entered the office, looking out the open window.  On the other side was a fire escape they had used to leave undetected.  
  
“Well,” Danny said. “I guess we should have called for back-up.”  
  
“I’ll call Charlie and have the CSI guys come,” Duke said.  
  
Danny nodded as he and Kono put on their gloves. “Chin. It’s empty up here.”  
  
“I was afraid of that,” Chin said. “What are we going to do with these three?”  
  
“We need an ambulance. And a van for the suspects,” Danny said.  
  
“I’ll make the calls,” Chin confirmed.  
  
Danny joined Kono by the desk which was covered over with papers that seemed to be bills of lading. They all listed sugar as the cargo, tons and tons of sugar.   
  
“Sugar,” Kono said, shaking her head.  
  
“Yeah,” Danny said, looking through the papers. There was nothing in them that was of any use to them, not at first glance. At least there were no pictures of Five-0 leaving or entering their houses. That was some what of a relief.  
  
“What now?” Kono asked, fists on her slender hips.  
  
“Excellent question,” Danny said. “Duke, can you find out why Haphau was released?”  
  
“I can,” Duke said, taking out his phone. He made the call, listening with a frown. “Whose order?...you’re sure…okay…yeah. Thanks.” He hung up, frowning at Danny. “Chang said Steve called two days ago and had him released.”  
  
“Steve called,” Danny repeated. “Steve did not call two days ago. He spent the entire time in bed and I was sitting with him. There is no way Steve called.”  
  
“He wouldn’t have had him released even if he had called,” Kono said.  
  
“Which means someone cloned Steve’s phone,” Danny said.  
  
“Or stole it. We don’t have our cell phones in the safe house,” she pointed out.  
  
“There are still patrols on our houses, right?” Chin asked from down below where he’d been listening.  
  
“Yeah. I’ll have the ones at Steve’s check,” Duke confirmed.  
  
“Great,” Danny said. “I can’t believe they did it on Steve’s word. Over the phone.”  
  
“He was our suspect,” Kono reminded him. “If they cloned Steve’s phone, Chang would have no reason to think it wasn’t Steve.”  
  
“I think your best bet right now is to go back to the safe house,” Duke said. “I know you want to investigate the cartel but we can’t guarantee your safety. There are too many leaks.”  
  
“He’s right,” Chin reluctantly agreed.  
  
Kono also nodded, Danny sighing. “Yeah. Okay. We’ll go back. Put an APB out for Haphau. Not that it will help.”  
  
“I’ll take you back to your car,” Duke said as they heard sirens approaching outside.   
  
“All right,” Danny said. “We’ll call Steve when we’re on our way back.”  



	7. There Are No Dragons Here

“Had they stolen your phone?” Dr. Yamamoto prompted when Steve stopped.

“Cloned it,” Steve said. “They hadn’t broken into our houses. I think they thought that would be redundant.”

“What was your reaction to their findings?”

“I was concerned,” Steve said. It was clearly an understatement. “Danny made very sure they weren’t followed back to the house. Duke planned to ask the Governor to request the Coast Guard’s assistance in the investigation. Since we didn’t know the cartel was spying on them as well.”

“Spying on them?”

“The maps they found,” Steve said, certain he’d mentioned them. But he’d been talking so long he couldn’t quite keep track of what he’d said and what he’d only thought about saying.

“Of course,” Dr. Yamamoto said with a nod. “On the wall of the warehouse.”

“Yes. Although we didn’t know it yet, turns out Captain Stoddard was on the take from the cartel. He tried to blow up the two boats they towed away but our CSI guys were already at the dock waiting for them.”

“When did you discover his duplicity?”

“Not until ‘Akamu was finally apprehended,” Steve said. He sounded disapproving to his own ears.

He watched as Dr. Yamamoto went to the area next to his desk to open a cleverly concealed mini-fridge from which he extracted a frosty beer bottle and a cold bottle of water.

“You thirsty?” Dr. Yamamoto asked, holding them both out in question.

“Yes,” Steve agreed, remaining where he was standing by the window.

“Beer or water?” the doctor asked with a smile.

“You don’t mind if I drink beer? While I’m with you?” Steve asked, some disbelief in his voice.

“You aren’t on any medication. You’re a Navy man. It’s your choice,” Dr. Yamamoto told him in encouragement.

“Are you having a beer?” Steve asked as he finally accepted it.

“As long as you promise not to tell anyone,” Dr. Yamamoto laughed.

“You have my word,” Steve agreed, clinking bottles when they were both open. He took a grateful drink from his beer, appreciating the coolness and familiarity of it.

“What happened when they got back to the safe house?” Dr. Yamamoto asked when he was back in his chair.

“Wade left. He needed to get back to base. The team told me what they had found. We tried to find any trace of the cartel’s activities. Chang called me to apologize for releasing Haphau. I told him he couldn’t know it wasn’t me when they’d cloned our phones. Duke shut down our cell accounts so they couldn’t use them. Kono tracked the records of all calls to and from our cells. The one to Chang was the only one they had made.”

“That had to be something of a relief,” the doctor said, taking another sip of his beer.

“It was,” Steve agreed. “We eventually had dinner. Danny cooked. We all could but he’s the best one at regular food.”

“Regular food?”

“Not barbequed. Or cooked in a pit, as he put it,” Steve said with a smile.

“I see,” Dr. Yamamoto said. “And that was the night you were forced out?”

“Yes,” Steve said, his body shivering involuntarily at that memory.

~0~

“It’s creepy when you watch me sleep,” Steve said. He was laying on his stomach, his left arm under his pillow, his right stretched out beside him.

In the darkness of the room, his cast seemed to be glowing against the blue of the sheet. Or maybe it was just Danny’s imagination that made it more obvious.

Danny had been trying unsuccessfully to shut down his brain and fall asleep. Failing that, he finally wandered down to Steve’s room, content to lean against the doorjamb and watch the even rise and fall of Steve’s back.

“I’m sorry,” Danny said at the sound of Steve’s voice.

“Don’t lurk,” Steve said, rolling onto his side to face Danny. “Come in.”

Danny crossed over, sitting on the edge of Steve’s bed. Maybe the proximity to Steve’s sleep warmed body was dangerous but Danny felt drawn to him. And he thought Steve found comfort in the closeness as well.

“Can’t sleep?” Steve asked, rubbing his face with his left hand.

“No,” Danny admitted. “I feel like…I don’t know.”

“Yeah,” Steve agreed. “It’s disturbing, that they followed us, spied on us.”

“Very,” Danny said. “It was bad enough when they destroyed the Camaro. But the pictures. That’s a whole new level of ‘do not want.’”

“Do not want?” Steve said with an adorably confused face.

“Something Grace and her ilk say,” Danny said, waving it off.

“Ilk,” Steve repeated, making Danny frown at him.

“Cut it out.”

“Talk like a normal person,” Steve retorted.

“What do you know about being a normal person?” Danny asked, making Steve laugh.

“Point taken. At least I’m no longer seeing black helicopters.”

“True,” Danny said, putting his palm on Steve’s forehead before he could prevent it. “You feel warm to me. Let me get you some water.”

“You don’t need to fuss over me,” Steve said, looking up at Danny.

“Yeah, I do. Because if I ‘fuss’ over you, maybe you won’t dig another bunker on the beach.”

“Well. When you put it like that,” Steve said.

“I’ll be right back. Do want something to eat? You didn’t have a lot of dinner.”

“I ate as much as everybody else,” Steve protested.

“Whatever. Are you hungry?”

“No. Just some water,” Steve decided.

“All right,” Danny said, leaving the bedroom and going downstairs. It was as dark as the night Steve was on the prowl and Danny didn’t bother turning on any lights. He wasn’t concerned about tripping over anything. Steve had tidied while they had been gone, putting up the few stray items that had accumulated in the common area.

As Danny crossed from the stairway to the kitchen, he thought he caught movement outside the windows. But it was completely dark with almost no moon. How could he have seen anything if there had been movement? He went on to the kitchen, about to open the refrigerator to get the water when he saw a distinct flash of light outside. It was coming from below the window line which ruled out lightening as the source. Besides which it had been a cloudless night when they had turned in.

He crept into the dining area, staying as invisible as he could. When he peered out the dark window, he nearly voiced his shock, stopping his shout before it could alert the intruders. The surprise of seeing people outside the house was compounded when he realized that the three large men were all holding torches. _Torches_. As though the house was inhabited by dragons.

Danny had no doubt about the intentions of the intruders. He made his way back up the stairs as quickly as he could, hurrying into Steve’s room first.

“Shoes. Put on your shoes,” Danny told him before hurrying out. He went into Chin’s room, rousing him and instructing him to put on his boots. Chin looked bleary eyed at him but automatically left the bed to do as Danny instructed. Certain he was awake, Danny went to Kono’s room, quickly telling her to find her shoes.

“What?” she said, moving her hair aside to see him more clearly.

“They are setting fire to the house,” Danny said to her and to Chin who had followed him down the hall.

“Fire?” Chin said.

“Guys with torches. Outside,” Danny explained as he went into his bedroom for his boots. “We’ve got to go or we’ll be burned alive.”

“What?” Steve said, coming into Danny’s bedroom to look at him over Chin and Kono’s heads. “What did you say?”

“’Akamu must have sent his guys to burn us up or smoke us out,” Danny explained in a rush of words. “They are setting fire to the house. We’ve got to go.” Danny made a _go-go-go_ gesture with his hands, Chin and Kono exchanging worried looks.

“Steve’s boots,” Kono said, glancing down at them.

“Right. One hand,” Danny said, squatting in front of Steve to quickly tie his boots. “Guns. We won’t be able to shoot our way out but we aren’t leaving unarmed.”

“Right,” Kono said, returning for hers. She had it shoved in the back of her shorts when she returned to Danny. Chin also had his. Steve was getting his from his bedroom.

“All right. Let’s go,” Danny said, herding them downstairs. When they reached the kitchen, they went to the pantry, opening the hidden door at the back. One by one they went down the secret stairs until they were underneath the house. Danny made sure the door was completely closed after he’d gone through it, joining the others in the musty cellar. “Thank God for the escape hatch.”

“I think those are only on space capsules,” Steve said, handing out bottles of water. They didn’t take more than two each but they had to make sure they were fortified.

“How are you feeling?” Chin asked Steve, staring up at him in the gloom. Danny had brought a flashlight from the pantry which he was careful to keep aimed at the floor so he wouldn’t temporarily blind any of them.

“I’m okay,” Steve said. “No fever despite what Danny thinks.”

“Okay,” Chin said. “The tunnel leads to Waiawa Street. From there we can go…where?”

“Pearl,” Steve said. “They’ll take us in.”

“They’ll take _you_ in,” Kono said. “You can’t be sure they’ll accept the rest of us.”

“Under the circumstance, they will,” Steve said. “We’ll call Wade if they give us any trouble.”

“All right. We need to go,” Danny said, hearing the fire spreading upstairs.

“How did they find us?” Chin asked no one in particular as he led them down the earthen tunnel. It was tall enough to walk upright although there were several times when Steve had to duck under some tree roots that had grown through.

“I’m beginning to wonder what they _don’t_ know,” Danny said from his position behind Chin and in front of Steve.

“Yeah,” Kono said, following behind Steve. “How long is this tunnel?”

“You aren’t claustrophobic, are you, Kalakaua?” Danny asked.

“No, _haole_. But I am a fan of fresh air.”

“Not much further,” Chin assured them.

“And they won’t be able see us once we leave, right?” Kono asked to make sure.

“Unless they know about this tunnel too, they’ll think we’re all dead,” Chin told her.

“Well that’s reassuring I guess,” she said with an uncertain shrug.

“Actually being dead isn’t a bad idea,” Steve said.

“Are you suggesting we not even tell the Governor we survived?” Danny asked, looking over his shoulder at Steve.

“It makes sense,” Chin told him in regret.

“Then they’ll call Rachel and she’ll tell Grace I’m dead,” Danny pointed out. “Adam isn’t going to be happy you’re dead. And neither is Doris.”

“It will protect us,” Kono said reluctantly.

“No. I understand your reasoning but I cannot let my little girl think I’ve died in a fire,” Danny said.

“All right. We’ll figure it out when we get to Pearl,” Steve said.

“Is there a back door to the base?” Chin asked. “If we go in the front gate, keeping our survival a secret will be even harder.”

“There isn’t a back door per se,” Steve said. “There are less than official ways to enter.”

“What happens if you’re caught using one of those entrances?” Danny asked.

“They’ll ask us what we’re doing there,” Steve said. “At which time we will explain.”

“I hope one of the guards recognizes you,” Chin said. “We don’t have our badges or our IDs.”

“I guess we should have gotten those too,” Kono said, slowing when Steve did. There was a particularly low root that he needed to maneuver around.

“Next time killers try to burn us alive, we’ll remember to collect them,” Danny said.

“God you’re sarcastic,” Steve observed.

“Mostly when I’m terrified,” Danny retorted, looking over his shoulder to frown at Steve.

“Or hungry,” Kono said.

“Or thirsty,” Chin added.

“Hot,” Steve suggested.

“Cold,” Kono said.

“Har-har-har,” Danny said, stopping the list. “Very funny. All of you. I suppose none of you are scared.”

“SEALs don’t believe in fear,” Steve claimed.

“Right,” Danny scoffed. “I guess the Kalakaua/Kelly clan doesn’t believe in it either.”

“Nah _brah_. We got the island spirits looking out after us,” Chin told him.

“Nice for you,” Danny said, stopping behind Chin at the end of the tunnel. It was covered over with an old wooden door that gave way when Chin and Danny shoved it hard enough. They emerged one by one from the tunnel, breathing in the fresh, cool air.

They were approximately 30 meters up the side of the hill that sloped gently down to a gravel road. They could just make out the winding road from their vantage point, no cars visible.

“What time is it?” Danny asked.

“It’s 0213,” Steve reported, Danny nodding in acknowledgement.

“How far to Pearl?” Kono asked as they started their careful way down the hill. They avoided using the flashlight for fear of discovery. By going very slowly, they could avoid the obvious dangers between them and the road, going over roots and under low hanging branches.

“A couple of miles,” Steve said. “We can take Waiawa almost all the way there. We’ll turn off before we get near the base so we can enter through the ‘back door.’”

“Okay,” Kono acknowledged. She watched Steve carefully to make sure he could get down the rocky path without any assistance. Ordinarily she wouldn’t give his ability a second thought but having the use of only one hand could unbalance him.

They reached the edge of the road where Danny said they should rest for a minute. They agreed it was a good idea, all of their hearts still racing from having to flee what they thought was a safe haven. They drank their water in silence, slowing their breathing and reassuring themselves that they were fine.

“We’ll call the Governor,” Steve said into the dark silence. “Tell him we’re still alive. But no one can know.”

“Except Rachel,” Danny said with pleading in his voice.

“If she and Grace don’t come home to bury you, they’ll know it’s not true,” Steve said.

“I don’t care. How long are we going to stay dead? Not for weeks, surely,” Danny said.

“Can Grace pretend you’re dead?” Chin asked tentatively. “Can Rachel explain and have her act like you’ve died?”

“I don’t know,” Danny said slowly as he considered it. What would it do to Grace to have to pretend to cry at her father’s funeral?

“She’s extraordinarily smart,” Steve pointed out. “I’m willing to bet if Rachel explained it to her, she’d be able to do it.”

“But at what cost? Will it traumatize her?” Danny asked. “Maybe I can admit I escaped. Be devastated that you are all dead.”

“It’s better if we all stay dead,” Chin said. “I’m with Steve. I know Grace can play ‘let’s pretend’ long enough for you to return from the grave. We may not need to have funerals. Maybe we can be resurrected before that happens.”

Danny sighed, looking at Steve with concern on his face. “If I can talk to Rachel, and Grace, I’ll do it. I’ll play dead.”

“All right,” Steve agreed. “We’ll have to hope their phones aren’t tapped.”

“We can call their hotel and ask that they use a public telephone,” Kono said. “Harder to trace those.”

“Good idea,” Steve agreed. “Mickey Mouse can tell Grace he wants to talk to her.”

“Okay,” Danny said, still reluctant to put Grace through the possible trauma of pretending her father was dead. But if she could do it, it could be the very thing that kept them alive.

“We ready to go?” Chin asked, finishing his first bottle of water. They all agreed they were, going onto the road. That made walking easier, safer, and quicker.

They had very little to say as they made their way to Pearl. Steve guided them off the road just as the first lights from the base became bright enough to make out the landscape around them. They circled the fence, remaining in the dark until they came to a rutted, dirt road.

They entered the road behind the barriers which blocked it off with signs stating that this was government property and intruders would be arrested. The gate in the chain link fence was securely closed with cameras aimed down at it.

“Do we knock and ask to see the Wizard?” Danny asked as they stood several feet from the gate.

“Wait for it,” Steve said. “Put your guns on the ground.”

They complied, backing up so that they were a couple steps away, still visible within the circle of light. When the gate opened to reveal three heavily armed guards in fatigues and TAC vests, all four of them raised their hands over their heads.

“You are trespassing,” the guard in the center informed them in a firm, hard voice.

“I am Lieutenant Commander Steve McGarrett,” Steve said taking a small step forward.

“Steve?” the guard on the left said, stepping closer. He took off his helmet, studying Steve. “What the hell are you doing?”

“Hiya Butler,” Steve said. “It’s a long story. We are officially dead. We need to stay that way for the time being. Until we’re resurrected, we need a place to hide.”

“May you rest in peace,” the one identified as Butler said. “Stand down,” he said to the other two. “I will vouch for Commander McGarrett. And his team,” Butler said, nodding at Danny, Chin, and Kono.

“Thank you,” Steve said.

“Enter the base,” Butler said, pointing at the gate. They passed through as the two other guards collected their guns. “This is above my pay-grade, Steve. I need to contact the base CO.”

“Right,” Steve said. “It’s vital that only those with the need-to-know are alerted to our presence.”

“Roger that,” Butler said, escorting them into the nearest building which seemed to be a garage with four vehicles up on lifts. “I’m going to the watch Commander’s office. Stay here.”

Steve nodded, sitting down on a bench with Chin, Kono, and Danny. He looked up at the other two guards, studying them. “Have we met?”

“No sir,” the one who had confronted them said, removing his helmet. “I’m Lieutenant Albert Fogerty. This is Tanning.”

“Sir,” the third one said. Turns out under the cammo and TAC vest, she was a woman. “I’m Sarah Tanning. Can I get you anything to drink?”

“I think we’re fine,” Steve said, silently checking with the others. The men nodded that they were set.

“Actually,” Kono said. “I need to…powder my nose. They could water the trees. Me, not so much.”

Tanning smiled and nodded toward the opposite end of the garage. “This way, ma’am.”

Kono went with her, talking quietly as they walked the length of the building.

“You’re dead, sir?” Fogerty asked Steve.

“Officially, yes,” Steve confirmed. “If it weren’t the middle of the night, I’d explain.”

“Understood,” Fogerty said.

“Do you have a secure phone?” Steve asked him.

“Sir,” Fogerty said, reaching into his pocket for his cell phone. “Untraceable.”

Steve nodded, dialing after accepting it. He waited through several rings before it was answered.

“Yes?” Governor Denning snapped.

“It’s McGarrett, Governor,” Steve said.

“What’s wrong?” Denning asked, frustration at being woken turning into concern at the identity of his caller.

“The cartel burned down the safe house,” Steve said succinctly.

“Are you safe? Is your team harmed?”

“We’re fine, sir. We’re at Pearl. We’ve decided that being dead could be to our advantage.”

“I see,” Denning said with a thoughtful pause. “They won’t look for you now that they’ve burned you alive.”

“Precisely. We don’t plan to tell anyone of our survival except Rachel and by extension Grace.”

“Wise,” Denning said. “I should be receiving a report in the morning that the safe house was destroyed by fire. I will hold a press conference to offer my condolences to your survivors.”

“Very good,” Steve said. “Danny will call Rachel as soon as we are provided a place to stay. It’s…” he glanced at his watch, mentally calculating. “It’s almost 9 a.m. in Florida.”

“Right,” Denning responded. “I’ll try to come to Pearl in the next few days. It won’t raise any eyebrows.”

“Understood,” Steve said. “Thank you.”

“I guess the cartel has tentacles longer and more dangerous than we originally believed.”

“It would appear that way, sir,” Steve had to agree. He hung up after a final word, watching Kono return to them. Tanning had found her a hairbrush and band so that her hair was up in a more comfortable ponytail. “I informed the Governor,” he told Kono.

“Good. Once we have a computer, I can trace Rachel’s phone. We can contact the park officials and ask her to call us,” Kono said.

Danny nodded at that, leaning back against the side of the garage. He was exhausted. Maybe he’d always been exhausted and sleeping only occurred in his imagination.

“…that okay?” Danny heard Steve say. “Danno?”

“Huh?” Danny said, focusing on Steve who was looking at him with a worried frown. “What?”

“I asked if that was okay with you,” Steve said.

“Is what okay?” Danny asked, trying to clear the fog from his brain.

“Never mind,” Steve said in sympathy. “It wasn’t important.”

“Okay,” Danny agreed, letting his eyes close. He’d rest for just a minute while they didn’t have anything else to do.

His eyes opened when he felt Steve stand. Butler had returned with an older man with grey hair and soft grey eyes. For all he looked like he’d been born into the military, he had a kind face and Danny liked him immediately.

“I hear you’re dead,” the new arrival said.

“Yes, Commander, unfortunately we are,” Steve agreed.

“I hope you didn’t suffer,” the Commander said with a smile for Steve and his team.

“We did not,” Steve assured him.

“Are any of you injured? Do you require medical assistance?” the Commander asked much more seriously.

“We’re fine, sir. Tired but otherwise unharmed,” Steve said.

“Very good. I hear you need a place to hide while you remain dead.”

“Yes sir. I informed the Governor. He will express his regrets at our demise in the morning,” Steve said.

“Good. Good man, Denning,” the Commander said. “The safest place for you is the brig. It’s secure. No one can enter without authorization. There is an isolated block that has five cells. It has a bathroom and an interrogation room within the block. You can continue your investigation while being secure.”

Danny glanced up at Steve whose jaw tightened at the idea of being put in the brig. Danny understood the wisdom of it as well as Steve’s hesitation to it.

“We will naturally leave the cell doors open,” the Commander assured them. “You would be free to move about the block as you wished.”

“There is an area for us to use computers? Which we’ll have to borrow,” Chin realized.

“Yes, Detective. The interrogation room can accommodate your investigation needs. We can provide a television as well,” the Commander said.

“It makes sense.” Danny was standing next to Steve who still looked unsure. “We’ll be safe.”

“All right,” Steve agreed. “It sounds like the best plan of action.”

“Or inaction,” Danny said with a shrug.

“I’ll have Fogerty, Tanning, and Butler assigned guard duty, as they already know of your unfortunate demise. No point in bringing additional personnel in on it.”

“Thank you,” Steve said with a nod.

“They’ll escort you to the brig,” the Commander said. “I will talk with the Governor when I’m certain he’s awake.”

“Thank you,” Steve repeated, following the three sailors out, Danny, Chin, and Kono following behind them. The Commander walked with them half way across the deserted compound, parting ways to return to his office as they were directed to brig. It was a large, imposing building, with no friendly welcome to offer.

Butler entered in the security code so that the heavy metal front door swung open. The 5-0 team entered behind Tanning followed by Fogerty and Butler. They were directed down a flight of steps and through another heavy metal door once Butler had it unlocked. After four more door and three more corridors, they arrived at a secluded section of the building, cut off from the rest by two of the doors they had passed through. Beyond the last door was a square space which contained two doors. Beyond the doors were five cells, two on the right, two on the left, one at the end. The members of 5-0 studied their new accommodations before moving to stand in the area centered before the barren and dimly lit cells.

“I know it’s not ideal,” Butler told them, looking at their temporary home.

“A lot better than the last time I was in prison,” Steve said.

“Me too,” Chin agreed.

If Butler was confused by these statements, he didn’t show. He didn’t react when Danny and Kono quietly laughed either.

“We’ll get you linens for the beds. And clean clothes. Through here,” Butler said, opening the metal door to the left, “is the bathroom.” They looked in, seeing the shower covered with a pristine white curtain and an immaculate toilet and sink. “Over here,” he said, opening the metal door to the right, “is the interrogation room. The observation area will be closed off,” he said, gesturing to the hallway parallel to the room where the occupants could be observed through a one-way mirror. “This is where we’ll set up the computers. You’ll have your meals here if you want.”

“We appreciate your assistance,” Steve said. He sounded tired and mechanically. Those were the right words to say. Whether or not he believed them was not of any importance. They needed to remain safe and dead. Being in the brig would accomplish both.

“Again, we won’t lock any of these doors. The one to the guard area will be closed but not locked. As per Commander Bennington, one of us will be on guard while you are here,” Butler told them.

“Could we have a computer now, please?” Kono asked. “I need to locate Rachel, Danny’s ex-wife.”

“Certainly, ma’am,” Butler agreed, nodding at Fogerty to go and find her one. “Tanning, please find our guests clean clothes and linens.”

“Towels would also be good, please,” Danny requested.

“Of course, sir,” Tanning agreed, leaving to find the items.

“Are you hungry?” Butler asked, studying his weary charges.

They decided they weren’t but would like some water. He left momentarily, very soon returning with a small cooler filled with cold water bottles.

“How’s the arm, Steve? Do I need to find you a medic?” Butler asked, glancing down at the cast that had gotten dirty on their way to the base.

“It’s fine,” Steve said, looking at it. “The cast is still secure. My arm doesn’t hurt.”

“He’s still on antibiotics which we didn’t bring,” Danny said in realization.

“If you can write down the name and dosage, I can procure replacements,” Butler assured them. He handed Danny a small notepad and a pen, Danny writing the name and amount of the antibiotic Steve had been taken. “I’ll get enough for four days. I don’t know if you’ll be here that long but you’ll have them just in case.”

“Thank you,” Danny said. All he really wanted to do was lay down and sleep for the next year. Or two years. At this point he didn’t much care.

“Don’t fall asleep yet, _brah_ ,” Chin said, bumping Danny’s shoulder with his own. “We have to find Rachel.”

“Right,” Danny said, rubbing over his face. “I think I’m going to visit the bathroom.”

“The head,” Steve said.

“What?” Danny said, looking up at him with a frown as he ran his fingers through his disheveled hair. “What about my head?”

“No. The bathroom is called…never mind,” Steve said. “Just go.”

Danny disappeared into the bathroom and closed the door behind him. When he’d finished his business, he splashed cold water on his face. In truth, it didn’t help but he told himself it made him feel more alert.

When he emerged, everyone was in the interrogation room, or the _living room_ as he decided he’d call it for the duration. Maybe the parlor. That sounded nice and old fashioned. All they needed was a tinny piano and some oil lamps.

“What?” he said when Steve touched him on the arm.

“Are you sleep walking?” Steve asked, studying him.

“Probably. You find her yet?” he asked Kono.

“I’m just now connecting to our server,” Kono said. “It’ll take a couple of minutes.”

Danny nodded, sitting in the chair across from Kono. He lay his head on his arm, determined not to fall back asleep. Not yet at any rate.

“Okay,” Kono said after a few minutes of frantic, purposeful typing. “It looks like she’s at the hotel.”

“That will make it easier,” Chin said.

“How are we going to contact her? If her phone is tapped, I can’t call her,” Danny said.

“I can call for you,” Butler offered. “I’ll ask her to find a hotel phone and call me back.”

“That should work,” Steve agreed.

“Okay,” Danny agreed. “No. Wait. If her phone is tapped, they’ll know you called from here.”

“Oh,” Kono said. “That’s right. You need to call the hotel and have someone there ask that she call you.”

“How will they find her? Do you know exactly where she is?” Danny asked Kono.

“She’s in the northwest corner,” Kono said, showing Danny the aerial view of the hotel.

“Is that a pool?” Chin asked, looking closely.

“It appears that way,” Kono said.

“That will make it a little easier,” Danny said. “Okay. We need the number for the manger of the hotel.”

Kono nodded, looking it up. “I think this is the direct line.” She wrote down the number, handing it to Butler.

“She is Rachel Edwards,” Danny said, telling Butler her height and weight as well as describing her and the children. “When you reach the manager, tell him to tell Rachel that she needs to call Danno.”

“Danno. Got it,” Butler agreed, dialing the number Kono had given him. “This is Lieutenant Commander Butler, US Navy, Pearl-Hickam. I need to speak to the manager.” He waited, listening momentarily. “If it weren’t vital, I wouldn’t be calling from Hawaii in the middle of our night….Yes, I’ll hold.” He nodded in satisfaction to the others as they all waited. “Yes, who is this please?”

“This is John Millwood. I’m the general manager here,” the man on the other end of the phone said.

“I’m Lieutenant Commander Eldred Butler. I need you to locate Rachel Edwards, one of your guests. She is at your pool with her two minor children.” Butler described her exactly as Danny did, including the children. “When you locate her, you need to tell her that Danno needs her to call this number.”

“This is highly irregular,” Mr. Millwood said.

“I understand that, sir. However, it is vital that you deliver the message to Mrs. Edwards precisely as I’ve given it to you.”

“On your say-so?” Mr. Millwood said. “We value the safety and security of our guests.”

“Understood. If I need to request that my CO call your supervisor, it will only delay the inevitable,” Butler told him.

“Very well,” Mr. Millwood conceded. “I will attempt to locate Mrs. Edwards. I am keeping your name in case there are unfortunate repercussions.”

“Would you like my serial number, sir? You are welcome to provide it to Commander Bennington if you wish to complain.”

“That won’t be necessary,” Mr. Millwood said in defeat. “Either Mrs. Edwards will be calling or I will be.”

“Thank you for your assistance, sir,” Butler said, hanging up.

“Thank you,” Danny said to Butler.

“You’re welcome. I don’t think he was being uncooperative on purpose. I can’t imagine too many people make these sorts of requests,” Butler said.

“We cause a lot of people to do things they never thought they would,” Danny agreed. “Like us dying for instance.”

“There is that,” Chin said. He stood when Tanning returned with the linens and change of clothes. “I’m going to make up our beds.”

“I’ll help,” Kono said. “Then I’m calling dibs on the shower.”

“Done,” Chin said, going out with her.

Steve and Eldred chatted, caught up, talked quietly. Danny didn’t even try to follow the conversation. They could have been seagulls for all the sense their words were making to him.

He started when the phone rang. Eldred checked the number before handing it to Danny with a nod.

“Hello?” Danny said, keeping his fingers metaphorically crossed.

“Danny? What’s wrong? Is everything okay?” Rachel said all in a rush.

“I’m fine, Rachel. Everything’s not okay but I’m fine. Steve, Kono, and Chin are fine,” Danny said. “But you’re going to hear differently. You’re going to hear that we’ve been killed.”

“What?” Rachel gasped. “What has happened?”

“It’s very complicated,” Danny said. “But the guys we’ve been investigating found the location of the safe house and torched it. We got out and are at Pearl-Hickam where we’re going to stay dead for the duration.”

“Everyone got out safely?” Rachel asked.

“We’re all fine,” Danny assured her. “I wasn’t going to let you and Grace believe I’d died. I wouldn’t put you through that.”

“I see,” Rachel said, considering it. “We’ll need to return home.”

“Yeah,” Danny agreed. “I’m guessing the Governor will call you. He knows the truth but we think your phone may be tapped. We don’t know for sure but he’ll call to convey his condolences.”

“I understand,” Rachel said. “I’ll explain to Grace.”

“Is she right there?” Danny asked.

“Of course. Here Grace,” Rachel said, handing her the phone.

“Danno?” Grace said, all worried.

“Hey baby. You remember how those bad men destroyed the Camaro?” Danny said.

“Uh huh,” Grace said.

“Well, they tried to…get rid of us too. They caught fire to the house where we were staying.”

“Uncle Steve’s house?” Grace asked in horror.

“No baby. We were staying…at a different house. They burnt it down. In order to keep you and us, safe we’re going to pretend to be dead. But there was no way that I’d pretend to be dead without telling you the truth.”

“Is Uncle Steve okay? Are Chin and Kono safe?” Grace asked breathlessly.

“We’re all fine, baby. Nobody was hurt. I think Governor Denning is going to call Rachel and tell her we’ve died. You’re going to need to play pretend. Can you do that? Can you pretend to be sad because Danno died?” Danny asked, hoping he wasn’t asking more from her than she could handle.

“It will be like a play at school, right?” Grace said, sounding uncertain which tore at his heart.

“That’s exactly right. It will be like you’re in a play. You’ll pretend to be sad because your Danno and his friends died. You can do that, can’t you, Monkey?”

“Uh huh,” Grace whispered.

“You don’t need to be frightened, baby,” Danny promised. “Nothing is going to happen to us. And nothing bad is going to happen to you or Mommy.”

“Can I talk to Uncle Steve?” she requested quietly.

“Of course. Danno loves you. And I’ll see you just as soon as I can,” Danny promised her.

“Love you, Danno,” she said.

“She wants to talk to you,” Danny said, handing the phone to Steve.

“Hey Grace. How’s my favorite girl?” Steve asked with a genuine smile.

“Are you okay, Uncle Steve?”

“Am I okay?” Steve said with a laugh. “I’m Uncle Steve. Of course I’m okay.”

“Your arm is okay?”

“It’s fine. The cast is a little bit dirty but your pictures are still safe. Are you okay, babe?” Steve asked her.

“I think so?” Grace responded. “I’ll play let’s pretend. Will there be a big funeral?”

“We hope we can come out of hiding before that happens, baby. If not, there will be a funeral. You’ll know it’s pretend. But it’s really, really important that you don’t tell anyone that we’re still alive.”

“I promise,” Grace said. “Mommy will tell Step Stan.”

“Of course,” Steve agreed. “I love you, baby. But I need to let you go.”

“I love you too,” she said, returning the phone to Rachel.

“Steve? Are you all right?” Rachel asked.

“We’re all fine,” Steve assured her. “I’m sorry to put you through this but it’s the best way to keep us all safe.”

“I understand. We’ll try to act as normally as possible until the Governor calls.”

“Thank you,” Steve said. “We’ll contact you as soon as it is safe for us to. If you need us for any reason, call this number. They’ll get us in touch with you.”

“Of course. Thank you,” she said, ringing off.

“She’s going to be fine,” Steve told Danny, a hand on his shoulder.

“I know. It’s just a lot to ask,” Danny said, closing his eyes to collect himself. But he didn’t think that was possible. He didn’t have the energy reserves necessary to find all the bits of himself that made a whole.

“Come on, Danno. Let’s go to bed,” Steve said, patting his shoulder.

“Right. Bed,” Danny said, slowly standing up and following Steve out of the parlor. He kept walking into one of the cells that had linens on the bed and lay face down on it.

“You need to change into fresh clothes,” Steve coaxed. “And you need to take off your boots.”

Danny tried to swat the words out of the air, not wanting to listen to them.

“Come on, babe. Kono’s in the shower. Strip out of your clothes so you can put these on,” Steve said, sitting on the end of the bed.

“Uhn,” Danny grunted. “’hin?”

“What?” Steve asked.

“Chin? Where’s Chin?”

“I’m right here, _brah_ ,” Chin said from across the square. “I’m going to shower then sleep.”

“’Kay,” Danny said, squinting at Steve. “You showering?”

“I should but I’ll wait until the morning. I’d rather sleep,” Steve admitted.

“Yeah,” Danny agreed, rolling over and struggling to sit up. He reached down for the laces on his boots but nearly toppled head first off the bunk.

“I got this,” Steve said, squatting before him to untie his boots. “Take off your shirt. Put this one on.”

Danny finally managed to pull his shirt up and off, shrugging on the white tank top that had been provided. “This prison wear?”

“No. Regular people clothes,” Butler said from outside the cell. “Courtesy of the US Government.”

“Hope they’re made in the USA,” Danny said as he allowed his body of fall backward.

“Take off your shorts,” Steve said, still holding the clean pair.

“Not wearing briefs.”

“We won’t peek,” Steve said, grabbing his right hand and pulling him up to stand. Danny leaned against Steve until he was sure his legs would hold him. He quickly traded his dirty shorts for the clean ones. “Now. You can go to sleep.”

“Yay me,” Danny said, collapsing back onto the bed.

Steve smiled and went into the cell next door. He quickly changed into the fresh clothes after he had his boots off. He had just slipped between the sheets when Kono came out dressed in the same white tank top and shorts, looking freshly scrubbed. Her wet hair was secured on top of her head. “You okay?” Steve asked as she went into the cell across from his.

“Yeah. You know,” she said with a shrug. “Danny asleep?”

“99.9%” Danny muttered.

“Okay,” Kono laughed. “Good night.”

“Uhn,” Danny grunted.

“Grace okay?” Kono asked Steve quietly.

“I think she’ll be fine. She was worried about us but I assured her we’re all okay.”

“Chin know?” Kono asked from her bunk.

“Not yet. I’ll tell him when he gets back,” Steve said.

“Shhh….” Danny complained.

“Oh like we’re keeping you awake,” Steve scoffed.

“Uhn,” Danny grunted.


	8. May We Rest In Peace

“Danno,” Steve said the next morning. The sound of his voice and the unmistakable smell of coffee was enough to almost wake Danny.  
  
“Go ‘way,” Danny mumbled into his pillow.  
  
“I have coffee,” Steve said, bringing it closer to Danny’s nose.  
  
“Go ‘way,” Danny repeated, adding a hand wave for good measure.  
  
“Up. Get up, Danny. Or you’re going to miss the Governor’s press conference,” Kono’s far too cheerful voice said, adding to Danny’s misery.  
  
“Uhn,” Danny grunted, finally rolling over. Steve’s hair was wet which he took to mean he’d showered. Most importantly, he was still holding the coffee. “Give me,” Danny said, making grabby hands for it.  
  
Steve laughed, giving him the cup. “You have twenty minutes to shower before the press conference.”  
  
“You two are way too…awake,” Danny said with a scowl.  
  
“It’s 9:40, _brah_ ,” Kono informed him.   
  
“Still too early,” Danny complained. “Where’s Chin?”  
  
“Helping Tanning hook up the TV,” Steve said, standing up next to the bed. “Go take a shower so you can have some breakfast.”  
  
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Danny grumbled, finally leaving his bunk and taking his coffee with him. He closed the bathroom door, showering and gratefully brushing his teeth. He did feel better when he was clean, wearing the fresh clothes that were waiting for him.  
  
“We’re in the interrogation room,” Steve called over to him.  
  
“Parlor,” Danny said as he entered. He looked in the warming trays on a small table that hadn’t been in the room last night.  
  
“What?” Steve asked.  
  
“I decided we ought to call this the parlor,” Danny informed them as he filled a plate with eggs and bacon and fruit. “Thank goodness this parlor doesn’t have blue lights like ours does.”  
  
“Okay. Whatever,” Steve said with a shrug. Chin quirked an eyebrow and Kono laughed.  
  
“It’s been called a lot of things,” Tanning told him. “Parlor’s not one of them.”  
  
Danny shrugged, sitting at the table next to Steve.   
  
“Let me know if there’s anything else you need,” she said before she left them alone.  
  
“Are you going to go crazy?” Kono asked Steve, looking at him with a critical eye.  
  
“You mean being cooped up in here?” Steve responded.  
  
“Yeah…no ocean. No surfing.”  
  
“It’s going to be…fine,” Steve settled on. “Danny said I can’t swim yet anyway.”  
  
“There is that,” Chin agreed, studying the TV. “What channel do you want to watch?”  
  
“Are they all going to cover it?” Kono asked.  
  
“Were we on the morning news?” Danny asked. “May we rest in peace.”  
  
“I don’t think we were,” Steve said. “It doesn’t matter which channel.”  
  
“Turn it to that one with that guy. You know, with the nice smile,” Kono said.  
  
“That guy. With the nice smile,” Chin repeated.  
  
“She means Nakoa Palakiko,” Danny said as he ate more eggs. “What?” he said when Chin and Steve looked at him.  
  
“When did you start speaking _Kono_?” Chin asked in clear amusement.  
  
“We have our secrets,” Danny said, fist bumping with Kono and sharing a secretive smile.  
  
“Since when?” Steve asked, looking at Danny then Kono.  
  
“ _Brah_ ,” Kono said like that answered it all.  
  
Steve turned his adorably confused kicked puppy dog face on Danny who nearly choked on his eggs.  
  
“Shut up,” Danny said to him. “Did you eat?”  
  
“I ate,” Steve said.  
  
Danny looked at Chin and Kono who both nodded.   
  
“Butler got his antibiotics,” Chin said. “He took them this morning.”  
  
“Thank you,” Steve said with a frown.  
  
“Were you going to admit it?” Chin challenged.  
  
Steve just shrugged, sipping Danny’s coffee.  
  
Chin had the TV on the channel Kono had requested, the unbelievably attractive studio anchors talking about the news conference that had been hastily called. They had no idea what the Governor would be discussing but knew it had to be serious for him to request the presence of Oahu’s news outlets.  
  
At a few minutes past 10:00, Governor Denning entered the room where he held his news conferences. He looked suitably serious. They were a little surprised that Duke was with him and wondered if the Governor had told him the truth.  
  
“Thank you for coming on such short notice,” Governor Denning began. “I’ve come to announce with tremendous sadness that the members of the Hawaii Five-0 task force are missing and presumed dead.” He paused for the audible gasps in the room. Duke looked distressed. Denning looked torn between crying and punching someone in the nose. “While the details remain uncertain, what is certain is that Lieutenant Commander Steven McGarrett, Detective Daniel Williams, Detective Chin Ho Kelly, and Officer Kono Kalakaua gave their lives in service to the great state of Hawaii.  
  
“Their immediate families have been notified and we will be making arrangements for their funeral services once we have confirmation of their demise. Details will be made available as they are confirmed. We are discussing the memorial service for Commander McGarrett with the Navy. I believe the team would have wanted one joint service so we have some logistics that must be determined.   
  
“Although that is all I have to report at this time, I will open the floor to a few questions,” the Governor said. There was a general, low-key clamoring for his attention until he called on one of the senior reporters.  
  
“You said missing and presumed dead,” the reporter said. “Can you give us the circumstances of their disappearance?”  
  
“I am not cognizant of all of the details as of yet. Sergeant Lukela had been assisting Five-0 with their current investigation. He was scheduled to meet with them in the early hours this morning. When he was unable to reach any of them, he undertook a search. He discovered their disappearance.”  
  
“I guess he told Duke the truth,” Danny said.  
  
“I’m glad,” Kono said. “I’d hate to put Duke through that.”  
  
“Yeah,” Chin agreed.  
  
“Where were they?” the same reporter asked. “At their houses?”  
  
“Sergeant Lukela,” Governor Denning said, giving him the podium.  
  
“I called Commander McGarrett as we previously arranged. He failed to answer his phone. I then called Detective Williams, Detective Kelly, and Officer Kalakaua. When I failed to reach any of them, I contacted the Governor. It was then that we determined that they were presumed dead.”  
  
“Have you recovered the bodies?” another reporter asked.  
  
“Not as of yet. Work continues to retrieve them,” Duke said sadly.  
  
There were several other questions which Duke and Governor did an excellent job of _not_ answering directly.   
  
“That is all we know,” the Governor said, wrapping up. “Details will be provided when the memorial service has been planned.” With that, Denning and Duke left.   
  
The anchors in the newsroom discussed the announcement, trying to understand this senseless tragedy. Five-0 had made a huge difference in the lives of all Hawaiians. Would the task force be reconstituted with new personnel?  
  
Chin finally turned off the TV, looking at the others who seemed a little shell shocked. “Kind of hard, huh?”  
  
“Harder than I expected,” Danny agreed. “He seemed genuinely upset.”  
  
“He did an excellent job,” Kono said. “So your service might have to be separate from ours?” Kono asked Steve.  
  
“Not if they find my will. I specifically asked that we all be treated the same if this should happen,” Steve said.  
  
“Thank you, Boss,” Kono said sadly.  
  
“Doris won’t move in while you’re dead, will she?” Danny asked, trying to lighten the mood.  
  
“God I hope not,” Steve said. “I’d hate to have to evict her.”  
  
“And Mick,” Kono reminded him with a wink.  
  
“Stop,” Steve said, holding up his left hand. “That is not an image I need in my head.”   
  
They all looked over at the outside door when there was a knock just before it was pushed open. They weren’t especially surprised when Wade walked in.  
  
“Thank God,” Wade said, visibly relaxing. “I knew it wasn’t true.”  
  
“It isn’t. But obviously we aren’t telling anyone,” Steve said, gesturing for him to sit with them. “Do you want a cup of coffee?”  
  
“No, thanks. I need to get back. But I called the Governor who told me I should talk to base CO. He wasn’t exactly forthcoming but indicated that information was available in this cell block.”  
  
“We came here when they burned down the house,” Steve explained.  
  
“Burned down the safe house,” Wade said, shaking his head. “This is bigger than you now. The Navy is going to join the investigation.”  
  
“Call Duke,” Danny said. “He’s leading the investigation into our deaths.”  
  
“Right,” Wade said. “I’ll talk to the right people about apprehending the scum that killed such dedicated law enforcement personnel.”  
  
“Rachel and Grace know,” Danny said. “We think Duke knows. That’s really all.”  
  
“Roger that,” Wade said. “I won’t tell Joe when he calls. I wouldn’t be surprised if he came here to help us find the cartel.”  
  
“They thought killing us would put an end to the investigation,” Chin said in grim satisfaction. “Looks like it’s going to have the exact opposite effect.”  
  
“Count on it,” Wade said. “I’m sorry about your deaths. I’ll miss you.”  
  
“Appreciate it,” Steve said as Wade left.  
  
“You think Joe will come?” Danny asked him as he went back for more eggs and coffee. Kono was refilling her plate with fruit.  
  
“Maybe,” Steve said with a shrug. “Hard to know. He probably won’t find out for a couple of days. He isn’t always up to date on the news. Unless Wade calls him.”  
  
“Nice way to retire,” Danny said.  
  
“I’m sorry about your parents,” Kono said sincerely, covering Danny’s hand with hers.  
  
“They’ll be okay,” Danny assured her. “Especially when they learn our bodies weren’t recovered. They’ll know something is up.”  
  
“Good,” Kono said with a nod.  
  
“Kamekona,” Chin said sadly, shaking his head.  
  
“You know how the big K is. He’ll find a way to profit from our demise,” Danny said. “He’s probably already sold off all our worldly goods.”  
  
“Wouldn’t be surprised,” Chin admitted with the beginnings of a smile.  
  
“Yeah,” Steve agreed. “I needed a new bed anyway.”  
  
“Do tell,” Kono said with an entirely inappropriate smile.  
  
“Stop,” Steve said, shaking his head at her. “You have a dirty mind Kalakaua.”  
  
“Have I ever denied it? Are you taking Danny with you to test drive the new bed?” Kono teased. That dropped a complete silence over the room, all of them staring at her. “What? It’s not like we don’t know.”  
  
“Know what?” Danny asked evenly.  
  
“That you two are crazy in love. Even if you won’t admit it,” Kono said, spearing her pineapple and using it as a wand to wave at them. “Don’t deny it. We have eyes.”  
  
Steve and Danny traded glances before turning back to stare at Kono.  
  
“Oh please. You think that death stare is going to work on me?” she asked in disbelief. “You two are the only ones who don’t discuss it.”  
  
“Did you have a blow to the head we don’t know about?” Danny finally asked.  
  
“Man up, _brah_. Admit it,” Kono recommended.  
  
Danny and Steve looked at Chin in question. He wisely shrugged and did not comment, holding his palms out in a clear sign of _I’m not part of this.  
_  
“Sometimes I hate you,” Danny said to Kono. “Not all the time. Just sometimes.”  
  
“Whatever,” she said, waving it away. “Doesn’t make it any less true.”  
  
“Could you have picked a more awkward time to decide to announce this _truth_ of yours?” Danny asked with exaggerated air quotes around truth.  
  
She shrugged, her dimpled smile nearly taunting them.  
  
“Well, now that we’re being all awkward,” Steve said, clearing his throat. “Wade took the time you all were gone to tell me he thinks I’m suffering PTSD.”  
  
“And?” Chin said casually like Steve had announced it was sunny outside.  
  
“That’s it?” Steve asked.  
  
“Black helicopters, babe. Bunkers on beaches,” Danny reminded him. “You going to seek medical help now that Wade told you?”  
  
“We have a cousin who was diagnosed with it,” Chin said. “He was prescribed antidepressants. Said it was like a miracle.”  
  
“No side effects?” Steve asked hopefully.  
  
“None,” Kono assured him. “His experiences in the middle east probably weren’t as bad as yours. But he was suffering nightmares and hearing things. Once he was on medication, we had our old cousin back.”  
  
Steve nodded at that, feeling more secure in his decision to tell them what Wade had said. “Good to know. Any other awkward truths we need to share?”  
  
“We’ll play Never Have I Ever later,” Danny decided.  
  
“What does that mean?” Steve asked him.  
  
“It’s a drinking game,” Chin said. “Kind of like truth or dare.”  
  
Steve nodded but from the still confused expression on his face, they were pretty sure he had no idea what they were talking about. That was fine. They would use it to their advantage when they started the game.  
  
Steve glanced over at Danny, wondering if he was surprised at Kono’s announcement about their “true” feelings. Danny was chatting casually with her, no tension apparent. Well, he could acknowledge to himself that what she’d said was true and maybe, just maybe, Danny felt the same way.  
  
Danny felt Steve watching him and caught his eye with a smile of question. When Steve tilted his head toward the parlor door, Danny automatically got up and followed him out. They went into the bathroom where Steve shut the door.  
  
“So. Are you going with?” Steve asked from where he leaned up against the metal door.  
  
“I’m right here, aren’t I?” Danny asked, crossing his arms over his chest.  
  
“In here, yes. When I go bed shopping?” Steve clarified.  
  
“You don’t know for sure that Kamekona is selling our stuff,” Danny replied.  
  
“Don’t play stupid. It’s not a good look,” Steve said in exasperation, closing the distance between them. “Is Kono right? About how you feel?”  
  
“I’m not stupid. And neither are you.”  
  
“That doesn’t answer my question,” Steve told him.  
  
“Maybe this will,” Danny said when he stood up on his toes so he could reach Steve’s mouth. The kiss was light, almost chaste, but it was also perfect. Danny had often imagined their first kiss and while this one wasn’t as passionate he would have liked, it was still delicious. It left him wanting much, much more.  
  
“So that’s a yes,” Steve said with a smile, looking down at the twinkle in Danny’s blue eyes.  
  
“That is most definitely a yes,” Danny agreed as he licked his lips to gather Steve’s flavor. “The night you were out hunting black helicopters, I slept with you at your request. Before you fell asleep, you told me that you loved me.”  
  
“That wasn’t a dream?” Steve asked, lightly kissing Danny again. This kiss was also as tender as it was frustrating. It left them wanting more, wanting it _all_.  
  
“No.”  
  
“Why didn’t you say something?” Steve asked, his big, warm hands on Danny’s shoulders.  
  
“You didn’t remember the helicopters, babe. I couldn’t be sure what you said was absolutely true. I hoped it was. I suspected it was. But until I heard it from you, while you had all your wits about you, I wasn’t going to impose on you an emotion you might not be ready for.”  
  
“I’m ready for it. I have been. I guess I didn’t want to admit it,” Steve said.  
  
“Why? Is it because I’m a guy?” Danny asked evenly. If Steve had reservations about being in a relationship with someone of his gender, that could prove problematic.  
  
“You don’t believe that,” Steve told him. “Besides, you wouldn’t be my first trip to that particular rodeo.”  
  
“Oh. I see. You’re used goods,” Danny laughed. “So I get a discount.”  
  
“Sure,” Steve said. “Are you? Used goods?”  
  
“Damaged maybe. But all of my sexual encounters have been with women. I’d like to change that soon.”  
  
“Me too,” Steve agreed.  
  
“Then why were you reluctant to admit how you feel about me?” Danny asked, running his hand up and down Steve’s hard, bare arm.   
  
Steve shrugged, watching Danny’s hand. “Maybe because committed relationships are not a rodeo I have been to before.”  
  
“I don’t know,” Danny said, slipping his hand under Steve’s tank top to feel the warm, hard muscles of his stomach. “You were pretty committed to the SEALs.”  
  
“There is that,” Steve agreed. “You’re willing to take a risk on me?”  
  
“Babe,” Danny said, the word sounding even more like a term of endearment. “I already have.”  
  
“True,” Steve said. They looked over at the door when the knock came.  
  
“Are you two done making out? I need in there,” Kono informed them.  
  
Steve opened the door, shaking his head. “We were not making out.”  
  
“Why not?” she asked. “Anyway, go _not_ make out somewhere else and leave a girl in peace.”  
  
“Yes, ma’am,” they agreed, returning to the parlor.  



	9. Never Have I Ever

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I _think_ this is the next-to-last chapter. Thanks so much to everyone who has come along for the ride!

“So,” Dr. Yamamoto said with a broad smile. “You said it _and_ you remembered saying it.”  
  
“I did and I do,” Steve agreed, smiling back. “It turned out to be a revelation for both of us. Feeling it is one thing. Acknowledging it, discussing it, makes it real.”  
  
“Yes it does,” the doctor said. “How was being dead?”  
  
“Boring, to tell the truth. I always prefer be outside than in. But we knew we had to wait until it was safe to come back to life.”  
  
“Did you manage to fill up the days?”  
  
“For the most part. Danny made me nap,” Steve admitted. “It felt…wrong. But it helped.”  
  
“Did they nap too?” Dr. Yamamoto asked.  
  
“Not really. We all spent most of our time in the parlor. Kono and Chin tried to help with the investigation but it was almost impossible. We couldn’t access the HPD database. The Five-0 servers were shut down. Not to keep us out but to make sure the cartel didn’t access them. We played Scrabble and cards. Watched really terrible TV and threw popcorn at it.”  
  
“Threw popcorn at it,” the doctor laughed.  
  
“Yeah. We had contests to see who could hit the most irritating people right in the face.”  
  
“Very mature,” he laughed, making Steve smile.  
  
“We de-aged while we there I think,” Steve admitted. “We got pretty childlike. Which Danny said was better than childish.”  
  
“Shedding all responsibilities can have the effect,” Dr. Yamamoto confirmed. “It’s not the worst thing in the world.”  
  
“It was kind of relaxing,” Steve agreed. “We also played that drinking game – Never Have I Ever. That was… interesting.”  
  
~0~  
  
“Okay, I’m bored,” Danny announced shortly after they’d finished dinner the second night of their ‘incarceration.’  
  
“Let’s play a drinking game,” Kono said far too happily.  
  
“Can we get beer?” Chin asked as he shuffled the deck of cards they had been playing with earlier.  
  
“Probably,” Steve said. “I’ll check with Fogerty. Or is Butler already on?”  
  
“Doesn’t matter,” Danny said. “Let’s go see.” He grabbed Steve around his left wrist and went into the outer office where Fogerty was on his computer. “Can we have some beer?” Danny asked with no preliminaries.  
  
“Sure,” Fogerty agreed, standing up. “I’ll be back in ten minutes.”  
  
“Thanks,” Steve agreed, going back into their temporary home after Fogerty had locked the outside door. “He’ll be back in ten minutes.”  
  
“Here are the rules,” Danny said when they were sitting back down. “I make a statement that is true. If you have done what I said, you take a drink. If you haven’t, you don’t drink.”  
  
“What?” Steve said with a frown.   
  
“I’d say,” Kono began, “Never have I ever jumped out of plane. You have jumped out of a plane, so you take a drink.”  
  
“I haven’t so I don’t,” Danny said.  
  
“I have so I drink,” Chin added.  
  
“When did you jump out of a plane, Cuz?” Kono asked Chin with a laugh.  
  
“On a bet,” Chin admitted. “Never again.” They all laughed at his expression.  
  
“I’d say never have I gone SCUBA diving,” Danny said. “You have so you’d take a drink.”  
  
“I’d drink,” Kono added.  
  
“And so would I,” Chin explained.  
  
“Got it now?” Danny asked Steve who was looking slightly less confused.  
  
“There are fewer things I’ve never done,” Steve pointed out.  
  
“There are plenty of normal things you don’t do,” Danny assured him.  
  
“I’m normal,” Steve retorted.  
  
“Not in my book,” Danny informed him. “There’s stuff you’ve never done. You’ll think of them as we get more toasted.”  
  
“And we don’t lie, right? Steve asked to make sure.  
  
“Right,” Kono agreed. “Drink if you’ve done it. Don’t if you haven’t.”  
  
“What’s the goal of this game?” Steve asked so he wouldn’t fail to complete the mission as laid out to him.  
  
“Mostly to pass the time and get drunk off our asses,” Chin assured him. “The only one who loses is the first one to bolt to the head because we drank too much.”  
  
“And you’ve all played this before?” Steve asked, looking at each of them.  
  
“Of course. It’s what normal people do in college,” Danny told him. Chin and Kono were nodding in agreement with that.  
  
“We used to play on the circuit,” Kono said. “Just the girls. We didn’t really want the boys to know _all_ our secrets.”  
  
“You ever play with Ben?” Danny teased.  
  
“Shut up,” Kono said, an adorable blush creeping up her cheeks. She immediately jumped up to answer the knock on the door, accepting the cooler from Fogerty. “Thanks.”  
  
“No problem, ma’am,” he said, following her in with pretzels and peanuts. “Snacks.”  
  
“Thanks,” the others said in appreciation, accepting a beer from Kono. Danny opened Steve’s before opening his own, no one commenting on it.  
  
“Who goes first?” Chin asked, drinking from his frosty bottle.  
  
“We’ll let you,” Danny decided. “Age before beauty.”  
  
That drew laughter from everyone except Chin who pretended to scowl at Danny.  
  
“All right,” Chin said, thinking it through. “Never have I ever…gone snow skiing.”   
  
Danny and Steve drank, Kono and Chin nodding. That made sense.   
  
Kono was sitting to Chin’s right so she said she would go next. “Never have I ever…driven a standard car. Not successfully at any rate,” Kono admitted.   
  
The guys all drank, Danny surprised at her. “You can’t drive standard, Kalakaua?”  
  
“No. I never learned,” she said with a shrug.  
  
“You need to know. I’ll teach you once we’re released…or you know, back among the living,” Danny decided.  
  
“Good luck, _brah_ ,” Chin said. “I’ve tried. She’s hopeless.”  
  
“Chin Ho Kelly,” Kono said in scolding.  
  
“I’m not family. It will be easier for me to teach her,” Danny assured Chin.  
  
“I’ll teach you,” Steve volunteered.  
  
“Nah,” Kono said. “You’d make me run laps if I grind the gears.”  
  
Steve frowned. He frowned even more when Danny and Chin claimed she was entirely correct and he would make her do squats or push-ups if she didn’t do it perfectly.  
  
“Your turn, Danny,” Chin said when they’d finished razzing Steve.  
  
As Danny was thinking of his truth, Fogerty knocked and entered, a phone in his hand. “I’m sorry to interrupt,” he said. “I have Rachel Edwards on the phone for you, Detective.”  
  
Danny frowned as he accepted it. “Rachel? Is everything okay?”  
  
“We’re fine, Danny,” Rachel assured him, her calm voice soothing his initial panic. “Grace is a little worried.”  
  
“About what? Did something happen?” Danny asked, trying to stay calm himself.  
  
“She wants to talk to you. There’s been talk of your passing and it’s confusing to her. We’re getting flowers here at the house and…well. You can imagine.”  
  
“I see,” Danny said. “Is she right there?”  
  
“Of course,” Rachel said, handing the phone to Grace.  
  
“Hey Monkey,” Danny said cheerfully.  
  
“Danno?” Grace responded, sniffing audibly.  
  
“What’s wrong, baby?” Danny asked. “Why are you crying?”  
  
“Those people. They keep saying you’re dead. I got scared,” Grace said.  
  
“I’m fine. You know that. Who is saying I’m dead?” he asked gently.  
  
“The people on TV. And there are flowers in our house, like the ones at Grandma’s funeral. Everybody’s so sad because you aren’t here,” she said.  
  
“I’m sorry, Monkey. I know it’s confusing. But it’s to keep you and Mommy and Charlie and Step-Stan safe. The bad guys think I’m dead so that means they won’t bother you.”  
  
“I know,” she sniffed. “But…. I miss you, Danno.”  
  
“I miss you too. And I hope I get to see you really soon,” Danny said.  
  
“When? When can I see you?” Grace asked.  
  
“I don’t know yet. Soon I hope,” Danny said, wishing he could give her a more accurate answer. “Until then you need to continue to pretend. You can do that, right?”  
  
“Uh huh,” she said, sounding a little braver if not by much.  
  
“Do you want to talk to Uncle Steve? He’s right here with me,” Danny said with a smile.  
  
“Uh huh,” she agreed. “Love you Danno.”  
  
“Danno loves you,” he said, handing the phone to Steve.  
  
“Hey Grace-face,” Steve said cheerfully. “How’s my best girl?”  
  
“I’m good,” Grace decided. “People are sad ‘cause you’re missing.”  
  
“I know they are. We’re hoping we can stop hiding really soon. Then you’ll get to see your Danno and Kono and Chin. You can come to my house and go swimming.”  
  
“Okay,” Grace agreed. “Can I talk to Kono?”  
  
“Of course,” Steve said. “Steve loves you.”  
  
“I love you too,” she said.  
  
Steve gave the phone to Kono, leaning closer to whisper to Danny as Kono talked to Grace. “She’ll be fine.”  
  
“I know,” Danny whispered back. “I hate doing this to her.”  
  
“I do too,” Steve said. “And if there was any way we could come out of hiding right now, you know we would.”  
  
“Yeah,” Danny agreed, watching Kono hand the phone to Chin. He talked to Grace the same way he always did before hanging up and returning the phone to Fogerty.  
  
“Thank you,” Chin said.  
  
“You’re welcome,” Fogerty said, leaving them alone.  
  
“She’ll be fine,” Chin told Danny just like Steve had.  
  
“I know. I just….” Danny stopped, shrugging. “You all have people mourning you too.”  
  
“At least they can really understand. I think she’s confused more than anything,” Kono said sympathetically.  
  
“Yeah,” Danny agreed. He took a deep breath and a drink of beer, trying not to think about how unhappy Grace had sounded. She would be fine. At least she knew the truth. That was something of a consolation to his slowly crumbling heart.  “Okay,” he finally said, ignoring the sympathy on the faces of his friends. “Never have I ever pretended to run out of gas to score.”  
  
The other three took a drink, Danny laughing at their guilty expressions. “That’s because you don’t have game. I got game,” he crowed.  
  
“You got nothing,” Kono claimed, reaching across the table to swat at him.  
  
“You are losers. Looooooo-sers,” he taunted.  
  
“Steve’s turn,” Kono decided, turning her silly, endearing smile to him.   
  
“Right,” Steve said with fierce determination on his face. “Never have I ever had sex in the bed of my pickup.”  
  
None of them drank, laughing at him. “You should pick something at least one of us has done,” Danny told him, still laughing.  
  
“I’m hoping next time we play, you and I will both drink,” Steve told him with a wink, Kono making kissing noises at them.  
  
“You are such a romantic,” Danny laughed. “Chin?”  
  
“Let’s see,” Chin said, thinking it over. “Okay. Never have I ever smoked pot.”  
  
After taking her drink, Kono turned on Chin. “You so have.”  
  
Danny and Steve took a drink, sitting back to watch the coming fireworks.  
  
“I’ve never _smoked_ a joint,” Chin told her, his arms crossed over his chest.  
  
“I’ve seen you do it,” Kono told him.  
  
“Nope. I’ve smoked regular cigarettes,” Chin said.  
  
“He said he’d never smoked it, Kono,” Steve told her to her gasp.  
  
“You made those pot brownies,” Kono exclaimed. “You are a sneaky, sneaky man, Chin Ho Kelly.”  
  
“Have I ever denied it?” Chin asked innocently.   
  
“You denied making the brownies,” Kono reminded him.  
  
He shrugged, waving it away. “I never said I didn’t. I just didn’t admit it when Grans was interrogating us.”  
  
“You sly dog,” Danny said, fist bumping him. “Kono, it’s your turn if you can get over your shock.”  
  
“I can’t top that,” she said, shaking her head. She thought on her response for a minute before giggling. “Never have I kissed a girl.”  
  
“That’s not what I heard,” Chin said before he could stop himself, after the guys had had a drink.  
  
“What?” Danny said, ready to grill Kono and/or Chin. Either one if it would get him the truth.  
  
“I have not,” Kono insisted. “Whatever you heard was a lie. It’s not that I haven’t considered it. I just haven’t.”  
  
“Probably best not to tell Adam you’d like to try it,” Steve suggested.   
  
Kono shrugged at that. “It’s Danny’s turn,” she said to take the focus off of her.  
  
“Never have I ever had sex in a sleeping bag,” Danny said. Steve and Kono took a drink but Chin didn’t.  
  
“Never?” Kono asked with an amazed expression.  
  
“Does Rachel strike you as the camping type?” Danny asked her.  
  
“Yeah. There is that,” Kono had to agreed. “Steve?”  
  
“I’ve never had sex with Rachel in a sleeping bag,” Steve deadpanned, making the others burst into raucous laughter.  
  
“You might enjoy it,” Chin suggested, waggling his eyebrows in a most disturbing manner.  
  
“No thanks,” Steve said with a laugh. “Let’s see… I’ve never met a movie star.” That made Chin and Danny drink, both surprised that Kono didn’t.  
  
“Who’d you meet?” she asked the guys.  
  
“I investigated a robbery in the neighborhood where Meryl Streep lived when she was still in New Jersey,” Danny said. “She came over to comfort the woman that was robbed. She was very nice, just like you’d hope she’d be.”  
  
“Chin?” Kono asked.  
  
“I met several when I was with HPD, you know, the first time.”  
  
“Names, Cuz, we need names,” Kono insisted.  
  
“It’s Hawaii, Kono. Everybody comes here,” Chin pointed out.  
  
“Yeah,” she had to agree.  
  
“I’m surprised you didn’t meet anyone while you were surfing,” Steve said in curiosity.  
  
Kono shrugged at that. “There were those B and C list celebrities that hung out. I avoided them. I had nothing to say and didn’t much care what they might talk about.”  
  
“And you’ve never met anyone like that?” Chin asked Steve.  
  
“If they came to the base where I was stationed, I avoided them. Kind of like Kono when it comes to the rich and famous,” Steve said. “I did meet a couple of presidents. But they aren’t movie stars.”  
  
Kono fisted bumped him, winking at Danny like she needed his permission to connect with Steve.  
  
They played two more rounds, laughing until they could hardly breathe. Steve even began to relax. It was only then that they realized he’d remained on alert the entire time they’d been on the run.   
  
“I’m totally buzzed,” Danny admitted. “And since I got to talk to my baby girl, I’m going to turn in.”  
  
“It’s still early,” Steve said, trying to focus on his watch with only partial success.  
  
“How would I know since we have no access to natural light?” Danny pointed out.  
  
“There is that,” Steve had to agreed.  
  
“You going to tuck him in?” Kono teased, making Steve frown at her.  
  
“You are going to be intolerable, aren’t you?” Steve asked.  
  
“Pretty much, yeah,” Kono agreed with a saucy wink. She saw no point in lying about it.  
  
“Come on, big guy. Tuck me in like she said to,” Danny said, pulling Steve behind him and into the bathroom.  
  
“Why are you always pulling me around?” Steve complained as he looked down at Danny’s fingers wrapped part way around his wrist.  
  
“Right. Because if you didn’t want me to, you couldn’t stop me,” Danny said, smiling up at Steve.  
  
“There is that,” Steve had to agree, leaning down to lightly kiss Danny. “I’m sorry Grace was upset.”  
  
“Me too,” Danny said, moving his hand up to rest on Steve’s chest. “But it’s the best way to keep her safe.”  
  
“Yeah,” Steve had to agree. “Brush your teeth so I can tuck you in.”  
  
Danny laughed at that, handing Steve his antibiotic and watching as he swallowed it with some water. “How’s the arm? Is it hurting?”  
  
“It’s fine,” Steve assured him. “No pain. My fingers still move.”  
  
Danny nodded in approval, white foam coating his lips. “That’s reassuring.”  
  
“I think so,” Steve agreed smiling into the mirror at Danny’s reflection. “You ready?” he asked after Danny had rinsed and spit.  
  
“I am,” Danny agreed, following him out until he abruptly bumped into Steve’s hard, muscled back. “Wha…?” The word died on his lips when he spotted Commander Bennington, Governor Denning, and Duke Lukela all standing outside the parlor. “Uhhh… hello.”  
  
“Hello,” Steve echoed. “This is something of a surprise.”  
  
“We know it’s late but we think we have good news,” Commander Bennington said.  
  
“Come into the parlor,” Danny said.  
  
“Said the spider to the fly,” Kono laughed, her happiness coming through.  
  
“Sure,” Steve said although they were pretty sure he didn’t understand the reference. Regardless, they all filed into the parlor. The room was crowded with everyone present but none of them minded. “You have news?” Steve prompted.  
  
“Right,” the Commander said, turning to Duke who was holding a manila folder stuffed to overflowing.  
  
“Are you all doing okay?” the Governor asked, looking at each of them in turn.  
  
“We’re good,” Chin assured him. “Ready to come back to life if it’s possible.”  
  
“We think we can help with that,” Duke said covering the entire table with photos from the folder. “Do any of these men look familiar?”  
  
The team studied the surveillance photos, nodding in consensus. “This is ‘Akamu,” Kono said, pointing at one of the photos that contained the cartel leader. He was standing slightly in front of the others, giving orders from his posture and demeanor.  
  
“We think this is Lae’ula but we aren’t entirely sure,” Chin said, pointing at one of the men in a group standing on a dock. The picture was taken from above them, possibly from the top of a neighboring building.  
  
“This is Huphau,” Danny said. “But I guess you know that since he had been in custody.”  
  
“Right,” Duke said.  
  
“Where did you find them?” Steve asked.  
  
“ _How_ did you find them?” Chin asked.   
  
“The Navy doesn’t take kindly to losing a SEAL,” Commander Bennington said grimly.  
  
“Or the Five-0 team,” the Governor added.  
  
“So the Navy found them,” Danny said with a nod.  
  
“Amazing what the resources of the US Navy can accomplish that even Five-0 couldn’t,” the Governor said.  
  
“Especially since the entire Navy isn’t a target,” Kono said.  
  
“Precisely,” Bennington confirmed. “The plan is that tomorrow morning at 0800, we’re going to take them down. Bust the cartel to nothing.”  
  
“We are guessing you want a part of it,” Duke said with a smile for them.  
  
“You guess correctly,” Steve agreed.   
  
“As we thought,” Bennington said with a nod. “We’ll provide you fatigues. Can’t arrest anyone in just your tee shirts and shorts.”  
  
“No,” Chin agreed, looking down at their somewhat skimpy attire.  
  
“We’ve arranged a blockade of the docks, far enough out that they won’t be seen,” Commander Bennington said.  
  
“You’re using Navy vessels?” Danny asked.  
  
“Yes. Only Sgt Lukela and Governor Denning know outside the Navy,” Bennington said. “We’re taking copters to the docks. We’ll come for you at 0700 with the fatigues, TAC vests, and arms.”  
  
“Right,” Steve said with a nod. “Anything else we need to know?”  
  
“I’m certain there is,” Duke said. “But we aren’t worried. Having you with us will make it even more successful.”  
  
“And then we won’t be dead any longer,” Danny said happily.  
  
“You will be back among the living,” the Governor agreed. “I’ve been dragging my feet on the arrangements for your service. Your families appreciate my reluctance.”  
  
“They know?” Chin asked.  
  
“They suspect,” Denning confirmed. “They are putting on a sad face but I suspect it’s all a convincing act.”  
  
“That is reassuring,” Kono said.  
  
“Your mother returned to Oahu with your sister,” Denning told Steve. “She is not doing anything until she hears from me.”  
  
“Have my parents contacted you?” Danny asked.  
  
“They have. They are on stand-by to fly here as soon as your body is recovered. I told them our office would pay for their transport,” Denning told him.  
  
“I appreciate your generosity in light of our demise,” Danny said.  
  
“Glad to do it,” Denning assured him.   
  
There were a few other details that they discussed before the three men left. Danny gave up his previous idea of going straight to bed, talking to the others for some time. They were excited that they were about to be free to resume their lives _and_ that the cartel would be destroyed, completely this time.  
  
“It’s almost midnight,” Steve finally said. “We have to be up early tomorrow.”  
  
They agreed going to bed was in their best interest. None of them slept especially well, excitement and anticipation keeping them awake. It felt, Danny later told Steve, a little like Christmas Eve had when he was a child. He wanted to sleep so the morning came faster but he was so looking forward to waking up, he couldn’t wind down enough to actually sleep. Steve knew exactly how he felt.


	10. Besotted Is A Good Word

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Five-0 is back from the dead. Steve and Danny finally have some very important private time to themselves. Complications arise and are overcome.
> 
> They live happily ever after!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for the delay in posting the final chapter. I have separation anxiety - it often happens when I've nearly finished a story. At any rate, this is it. Thanks to everyone who has read and/or commented!

 

“The mission was a success?” Dr. Yamamoto asked although he had heard about it on the news at the time.  
  
“Very much so. We arrested ‘Akamu and his lieutenants. Several of the cartel were killed. We seized three and a half tons of cocaine. And we blew up four of their boats.”  
  
“Were they surprised that you were a part of the raid?”  
  
“I think so,” Steve said. “A couple of them asked how we had come back from the grave.”  
  
“So they hadn’t looked for your bodies.”  
  
“No. Luckily for us. Although with us hiding at Pearl, they wouldn’t have found us,” Steve said in grim satisfaction.  
  
“And the mole? Did ‘Akamu admit who it was?” the doctor asked.  
  
“We used their phones to trace the calls. That’s when we found out their insider worked for the Governor’s office. Denning was furious, as you can imagine. And apologetic to an almost alarming degree.”  
  
“He knew the mole nearly got you killed. Certainly the expected reaction was anger,” Dr. Yamamoto suggested.  
  
“Yes,” Steve had to agree. “But he wasn’t responsible for his computer technician going off the rails. He’d gone through the same background check as the rest of the staff. There is no policy to continually check employee bank accounts to determine if they are on the take.”  
  
“No, I don’t suppose there would be. That seems like it crosses a line we don’t want to consider.”  
  
“Precisely,” Steve agreed grimly. “Ultimately, we completely busted down the cartel, found the mole, and had Captain Stoddard arrested. It felt like a sure win.”  
  
“Were the reunions with your families as joyous as I’d imagine them to be?” Dr. Yamamoto asked with a smile.  
  
“They were actually fairly low key. Apparently, most of our families had talked to Rachel and by extension Grace. And even though they _said_ all the right things, anyone who knows Rachel and Grace could tell they weren’t nearly as upset as Danny’s death would warrant. Our families mostly suspected we weren’t actually dead at any rate.”  
  
“I know you had to be reassured by their reactions.”  
  
“Very much so,” Steve agreed, taking a drink from his beer. “As soon as we returned to the land of the living, I visited Dr. Brooks.”  
  
~0~  
  
“I’m very glad that the news of your death was exaggerated,” Dr. Brooks said to Steve and Danny when they were sitting in his office. He’d checked Steve’s arm, replacing the cast with a lighter one. He was satisfied with the healing of Steve’s injury and said the cast was a continued precaution.  
  
“We are as well,” Steve agreed.  
  
“Being dead has some advantages,” Danny decided. “But I do prefer to be among the living.”  
  
“Understandably,” Dr. Brooks said with a nod. “And I know you aren’t here purely for your check-up.”  
  
“No,” Steve agreed, looking down at his fresh cast. The lighter, cloth cast couldn’t be used by Grace as a canvas but he’d make it up to her.  
  
“He’s ready to admit he’s suffering from bouts of PTSD,” Danny said, reaching over and laying a soft hand on Steve’s left arm. “He isn’t happy about it but he can’t deny it any longer either.”  
  
“I see,” Dr. Brooks said, studying Danny then Steve. “Is he correct?”  
  
“Yes,” Steve said softly. He cleared his throat, looking up to meet the doctor’s gaze. “It would be really hard to deny it in light of black helicopters and beach bunkers.”  
  
“I have to agree,” Dr. Brooks said warmly. “It’s not a personality flaw. Nor is it uncommon. I will give you a prescription for an antidepressant I’ve found to be very effective for other service personnel.”  
  
“Just like that?” Steve asked, feeling slightly suspicious.  
  
“Just like that,” Dr. Brooks agreed. “There are no blood tests, no x-rays to determine if the condition exists. The antidepressant is widely used for a varied population. It has almost no known side effects.”  
  
“If there is one, he’ll find it,” Danny predicted with a smile for Steve.  
  
“But not while digging a bunker on a beach,” Dr. Brooks said, reaching for his prescription pad. He wrote out the information, handing it to Steve. “It’s very straight forward. We’ll start you on a low dosage. If you start feeling like you’re going to go on a personal mission, let me know and we’ll adjust the dosage.”  
  
“Am I permitted to call you?” Danny asked, looking at the prescription being wrinkled in Steve’s tight grasp. Danny removed the slip of paper before Steve balled it into a crumpled mess.  
  
“Ordinarily we would say no. But because you might have a better understanding of when it begins to happen, yes you should call,” Dr. Brooks agreed.  
  
“Good,” Danny said with a nod. “Is there anything else you need from us?”  
  
“No,” Dr. Brooks said, standing and extending his hand to Danny. “Thank you for coming with Steve.”  
  
“Thank you,” Steve said to both or possibly neither of them.  
  
“Let’s go celebrate being alive,” Danny said with a smile up to Steve.  
  
“Sounds good,” Steve agreed, following Danny out. Steve didn’t protest when Danny went to the driver’s side, too wrapped up in his own thoughts. “Wait. Where are you going?” Steve asked when he looked out the windshield. “The office is the other way.”  
  
“We’re not going to work,” Danny informed him. “The dog is wound. The clock is fed. The reports are filed. We’re going to the drug store and then we’re going to have a private celebration.”  
  
“Oh,” Steve said, thinking it over before the light dawned. “Will this celebration involve being naked?”  
  
“If there is a God, it will,” Danny agreed, going a little faster than was strictly necessary but Steve was not about to protest. Danny pulled into the drug store parking lot, getting out and going in with Steve. He followed him to the pharmacy, handing over the prescription to the bored looking clerk.  
  
“This you?” the clerk asked Danny, looking at the slip of paper before returning to stare at Danny.  
  
“No. It’s him,” Danny said, pointing over his shoulder where Steve was apparently looking at magazines. But since Danny was pretty sure he wasn’t interested in reading the _Woman’s Day_ issues on display, he knew Steve was trying to be inconspicuous.  
  
“Date of birth,” the clerk asked, deciding dealing with the short, blond haole was preferable to engaging with the slightly angry military type glaring at them both.  
  
Danny provided it to him, also giving the clerk their insurance information.  
  
“You waiting?” the clerk asked, chancing another glance at Steve who was trying to burn a hole through him with the power of his unhappiness.  
  
“How long?” Danny asked, checking over his shoulder to make sure Steve hadn’t found a way to make a weapon out of canned cheese and Vienna Sausages.  
  
“Pharmacist’s on break. Be at least 45 minutes,” the clerk said, sounding only slightly nervous.  
  
“We’ll come back,” Danny decided with a curt nod. “Come on,” he said to Steve, leading him toward the front of the store.  
  
“Wait a second,” Steve said, veering off toward the personal care section. “I’m not sure I have any at home,” he said, pointing at the condoms on display.  
  
“Catherine use them all up?” Danny asked with a laugh as he chose a box of the brand he was most familiar with.  
  
“Now you bring her up? You have horrible timing,” Steve told him, choosing a bottle of lube.  
  
“It could have been worse,” Danny told him, going back toward the front where the cashier was located. “We could be ready to use these.”  
  
“There is that,” Steve had to agree. He smiled at the older woman who was behind the register. She looked at their two purchases and smiled as though she was the one who had gotten them together.  
  
“You are such a cute couple,” she informed them quietly. “Good for you for practicing safe sex.”  
  
“Thank you,” Danny said, returning her smile as he paid. “He’s something of an animal but he’s my animal.”  
  
“As it should be,” she agreed with a wink for Steve. “There you are, my dears.” She handed over the bag, watching them walk out the sliding glass door, happy for them.  
  
It was only a few very long minutes before Danny was pulling up to Steve’s house, relieved that Doris’ car was nowhere to be seen. She’d arranged the impromptu celebratory barbeque they had all enjoyed last night but she’d returned to her own house this morning, hopefully with Mary in tow.  
  
“Are you nervous?” Steve asked when they were in the living room, Danny heading straight for the stairs.  
  
“Nervous? About what?” Danny asked, looking back over his shoulder at him. “That Doris is going to walk in on us?”  
  
“No,” Steve laughed, taking firm grasp of the tempting ass right in front of him. “About your first time.”  
  
“Nah. No reason I should be. It’s you,” Danny said as though that explained it all. And maybe it did.  
  
“Yeah,” Steve agreed, releasing Danny once they reached Steve’s bedroom. Danny had slept with him last night, both content to lay together for the comfort and familiarity of it. Now their purpose for getting into bed would be much more….interesting.  
  
Danny made sure the bedroom door was latched before looking at Steve like he was sizing him up. It made Steve feel a little like a side of beef but he found he couldn’t mind. As long as he was to Danny’s liking, he didn’t care what expression Danny had on his face.  
  
“Take off your clothes,” Danny finally said, leaning back against the door and smiling at Steve as he was removing his boots. It was a smile he’d never seen before – predatory, hungry, lascivious.  
  
“Are you going to join me?” Steve asked, undoing his belt in a manner that was far too teasing for Danny’s comfort. Danny had to press the heel of his hand against his erection to stop it from rubbing raw against his zipper.  
  
“Uhn,” Danny grunted, watching Steve slide down his zipper and thumb his button open. Steve licked his lips as he shimmed out of his cargos.  
  
“See something you like?” Steve asked unnecessarily. Danny’s breathing was coming in small, quick gasps and Steve could see Danny’s eyes were so dilated they looked black with only the tiniest ring of blue remaining.  
  
“Uhn,” Danny repeated, reaching out a hand for the hard lump in Steve’s skin tight briefs. “I want this.”  
  
“All yours, babe. For the rest of our lives,” Steve said. He stilled completely when the words escaped his mouth, looking down at Danny in hopes that he hadn’t inadvertently terrified him. He smiled back when Danny’s mouth split into the brightest, sunniest smile ever.  
  
“Did you just propose to me?” Danny asked, standing on his toes to kiss Steve. He intentionally thrust his hips against Steve, enjoying the gasp he got from his unfair tactics.  
  
“Yes?” Steve said, raising his head to look down at him.  
  
“Oh babe,” Danny said, shaking his head. “I’m a sure thing. Married. Not married. It doesn’t matter. You’re it for me.”  
  
“Yeah?” Steve said, kissing him before he could answer. “So. You wanna? Marry me?”  
  
“Sure. You have a steady income. Nice house. Great bod. I could do worse,” Danny teased, kissing him back.  
  
“What do I get out of it?” Steve asked, kissing Danny to prove he already knew the answer.  
  
“Grace,” Danny said. “And full access to the Camaro.”  
  
“I already have that,” Steve reminded him. “Now. Less talk and more naked.”  
  
“I’m on board for that,” Danny agreed, pulling off Steve’s polo shirt before divesting him of his briefs. “You want to watch or do it yourself?”  
  
“Just get naked,” Steve requested, turning the covers back and laying down to watch Danny.  
  
Danny decided it was enough with the teasing and stripped in record time, crawling on top of Steve. Danny lay full on top of Steve, finding it the warmest, more comfortable place he’d ever been and he didn’t think he ever wanted to leave. That Steve was kissing him back like it was his personal mission while his hands touched every part of him made Danny all the more ready to make loving Steve his total life’s work. They could live on Steve’s Naval salary, right?  
  
“What are you thinking so hard about? I can hear the wheels turning,” Steve teased as he bit and licked Danny’s lips.  
  
“If we can stay here for the rest of our lives. Is your Naval salary enough for us to get by?” Danny asked. He bit the corded muscles of Steve’s neck as he laughed at the question.  
  
“You are… besotted, aren’t you?” Steve asked.  
  
“Besotted,” Danny repeated. “Besotted. And you have the nerve to make fun of my vocabulary.”  
  
“I was helping Grace with her spelling last week,” Steve said in his defense. “It apparently came up in one of Shakespeare’s plays.”  
  
“Makes sense. Does that make me…wait. If you call me Juliet, I will end you,” Danny warned.  
  
Steve laughed, turning them over so he was covering Danny’s body. “Never.” Steve kissed the rest of the protests out of Danny’s mouth, enjoying Danny’s hands running up and down his back.  
  
What happened next was that of which dreams are made. They went to the loving place that is occupied only by those who have found the missing piece to their personal puzzle, the half that makes them whole. Who did what to whom can be described but not the love that transcends it.  
  
“I think you did end me,” Steve said, lolling his head to the side to peer over at Danny.  
  
“Okay,” Danny said, reaching down to thread their fingers together.  
  
“Do Chin and Kono know where we are?” Steve managed to ask, his heavy eyelids sliding closed without his permission.  
  
“Yep. They told me we weren’t allowed to come in today,” Danny said, sleep descending over him. He chose to welcome it.  
  
“Uhn,” Steve grunted, rolling on his side to wrap his long, perfect arms around Danny before surrendering completely to Morpheus’ siren call.  
  
~0~  
  
“So things were good,” Dr. Yamamoto said when Steve had briefly related the relationship he and Danny had entered, formally, that day.  
  
“Good. Yeah. Really, really good,” Steve confirmed. “It stayed that way…until recently.”  
  
“What changed?” the doctor prompted gently.  
  
“I’ve developed…uhm…a decreased sex drive,” Steve admitted quietly. “It’s…uhm…well.”  
  
“What did Dr. Brooks say about it?” Dr. Yamamoto asked.  
  
“It’s the antidepressant,” Steve said, clutching tightly to the arms of the chair. He was a little afraid of breaking them but this subject was incredibly uncomfortable for him.  
  
It’d been awful enough when Danny had finally asked. Danny was keeping his apartment for a little while longer, until they had fully settled into their new relationship. Never mind the fact that he slept in Steve’s bed more nights than his own.  
  
The past week had been the most jam-packed since they’d come back from the grave, Steve and Danny falling asleep when they finally got home, the last three nights after midnight. Saturday and Sunday had been gratefully uneventful and Danny had suggested they spend the two days in bed. It was then that they discovered that Steve’s sex drive had apparently… diminished to the point of them both being concerned.  
  
Danny found the insert that had come with the prescription for the antidepressants, showing Steve to part of the possible side effects that said _decreased sex drive, impotence, or difficulty having an orgasm are less common but have been reported._  
  
Monday morning, Steve had called Dr. Brooks who said that the best thing for him to do was to finally go see Dr. Yamamoto. He’d tried before to get Steve to see him but Steve had never seen the point.  
  
“It’s not uncommon,” Dr. Yamamoto said, interrupting the useless swirl of thoughts chasing round inside Steve’s head.  
  
“Dr. Brooks said the same,” Steve said. “But I can’t stop taking them, can I?”  
  
“No,” Dr. Yamamoto agreed. “But there are others we can try.”  
  
“Oh,” Steve said, catching Dr. Yamamoto’s encouraging gaze. “Different ones.”  
  
“Of course. Like antibiotics, there are many varieties of antidepressants. That along with periodic visits with me to discuss any possible issues, and we’ll be able to tell Command you are no longer a threat to yourself or anyone else.”  
  
“Oh. That’s better news than I expected,” Steve admitted.  
  
“Didn’t you Google antidepressants?” Dr. Yamamoto asked with a hidden laugh in his voice.  
  
“I guess we could have looked it up,” Steve admitted, slightly embarrassed that they hadn’t even thought to check. Well, in their defense, other concerns were taking precedence.  
  
“And what could you have possibly thought would happen when you came to see me?”  
  
“I…uhh… don’t know what I expected. Danny accused me of being worried you’d have me committed. May have been wishful thinking on his part,” Steve laughed.  
  
“I doubt that,” Dr. Yamamoto said. “I’ll write you a new prescription and inform Dr. Brooks. You’ll come back next week and we’ll see how it’s going.”  
  
“Yeah. Okay,” Steve agreed, standing up to stretch, his back snapping. “Thank you.”  
  
“For what?” Dr. Yamamoto asked as he sat behind his desk to write out the prescription.  
  
“For listening without judging me?” Steve said.  
  
“It’s my job, Steve,” the doctor reminded him. “We want to make sure you have any assistance you need - physical, mental, emotional.”  
  
Steve nodded, accepting the slip of paper and looking down at it. “And if this…uhh… interferes?”  
  
“We’ll try a different one until we find the one that works for you,” Dr. Yamamoto assured him.  
  
“Okay,” Steve said with a smile. “I’ll come back next week at the same time?”  
  
“Certainly,” Dr. Yamamoto agreed easily, walking him to the door. “Call if you have any questions or concerns before then.”  
  
“I will. Thank you,” Steve said, shaking his hand before leaving the office, the weight of the world lifted from his shoulders. He was normal. What had happened to him was normal. Everything was going to be okay. “Hey,” he said to Danny when he answered.  
  
“Hey babe. How’d it go?” Danny asked, sounding thankfully relaxed. He had been less worried than Steve although he did want him to find out what was going on.  
  
Steve summarized what Dr. Yamamoto had said about the medication, Danny agreeing that it sounded like they were about to find the solution.  
  
“Come pick me up and we’ll go out and celebrate,” Danny said with a smile.  
  
“I have a better idea,” Steve said, climbing into his truck.  
  
“You think you always have a better idea,” Danny laughed.  
  
“This one really is. I’ll come get you and we’ll start moving your pathetically few belongings into my house.”  
  
Danny laughed again, a sound of utter delight. “You’re on. I happen to have some empty boxes you can help me fill. Stop for pizza.”  
  
“You got it,” Steve agreed, stopping at their favorite pizza place before driving to Danny’s. He was headed directly west, the sky ablaze with the spectacular sunset. Maybe it was relief. Maybe it was the prospect of seeing Danny. But the colors were brighter, the air more fragrant, the world a better place than it had been in quite some time. It was good to be alive.  



End file.
